Alice in Chicagoland

So I Had a Great Idea

2009-12-29T19:27:00.002-06:00

and I know you all will laugh as I'm SOOOOO good at keeping up with this blog, but my New Years resolution is to do a blog post every day for a whole year. When I informed Matt of my idea, he laughed and said "don't you think that you should start with an easier to obtain goal and say maybe once a week to start?" Laugh if you will, but I'm going to attempt it!

And since we're starting new (and I don't want to have to rename this one), I started a completely new blog! Click on the link to see and bookmark it to see if I can keep it up!

Love you all.

Surgery Scheduled for Izzy

2009-10-19T23:14:00.000-05:00

Some of you know that our last appt with the cardiologist was quite confusing. We went in expecting to discuss the surgery and to get the go ahead to schedule it, and instead Dr G told is we could push it back and suggested getting a second opinion.

We were quite blindsighted by the appt and we didn't ask the questions we should have. After coming home and discussing it, we decided it best to call his nurse and discuss what had changed. I heard back today and basically what I learned was what I expected - he sent us the direction he did because he could tell we were apprehensive. No one wants to put their seemingly healthy on the outside baby through surgery, but we trust his opinion. Plus we have the opinion of all the other docs at Hope Childrens as well as the surgeon.

They all say that timing is crucial due to the risks that cold/flu/RSV season, so we really don't want to wait until December to get into see a new doc for an official 2nd opinion, then till Jan/Feb for the surgery.

So basically we got in contact with the surgeon today and we have a date for surgery - November 19th.

So it looks like we're going to miss turkey day with the fam (boooo!!), but she should be better in time for her first Christmas.

Here's what we know:
She goes in on the 16th for a checkup to make sure she's healthy for surgery. Then we go in some time on the 19th (we'll know more after we get the packet from the doc). The surgery should last about 3-4 hours (w/ prep), and she'll be in the PICU for that first day. We'll have to come home that day as there won't be a place to sleep, but once she's moved we'll have accomidations. She should only be there for 2-4 days.

After that recovery is around 4 weeks, so just before Christmas she should be good as new!

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

So I Know It's Been a LONG While

2009-10-14T11:50:00.006-05:00

and I don't really have a good excuse as to why other than I have been trying real hard to stay off of the computer lately. Seems like when I get on I intend to spend just a few hours on it, but end up spending 5. So in order to not waste my day or be up into the wee hours of the night I try and just stay away all together. I'll update with some pics soon, but for now here are some things that have been going on around here lately.

- Alice is getting there on the potty training front. She still isn't telling us when she has to go 100% of the time, but she is staying dry most days. I will be so glad when she starts going on her own and when she stops yelling and telling me no when I tell her it's time to sit on the potty. Of course I think that has a lot to do with...

- Alice is going to be 3 soon, and I have a feeling 3 is going to be worse than 2. Some days I swear she has a personality disorder! She tends to be really super sweet and awesome to be around, or she's the spawn of Satan. Maybe my name was once Rosemary and my parents never told me. Either way, she can be quite the handful. I'm sure there is no magic age when it all gets easier, but I was REALLY hopeful that 3 was going to be awesome on the attitude front. I guess only time will tell.

- Speaking of getting older... we're having a Halloween bday party for Alice this year, and I can't wait! We're planning on having a haunted house, lots of games, treats, and I'm sure since we're celebrating on Halloween this year that we'll all take the kids out around the neighborhood to trick or treat as well. I'm SO excited for it and so is Alice. Of course the best part is having a reason to dress up as an adult. Part of the reason we decided to do it this way this year is because for MONTHS Alice has been talking about how she's going to have a Halloween party despite never hearing that from us. We have no idea where she got it, but eventually we decided it sounded like a good idea.

- Izzy is nearly 6 months old. Can you believe it?! I know I can't. In some ways it feels like she has been apart of our family forever, and in others it seems like I JUST found out I was pregnant! It's been a smooth transition to having two, and I'm sure part of it has to do with just how well Alice did with the adjustment and how even keeled Izzy is. I honestly don't know how we got so lucky to have two easy going babies. The next one (and yes, God willing, there will be at least one more EVENTUALLY) is sure to be a colicky nightmare.

- Lately she's really coming into her own. She's discovering new things every day, and she throughly enjoys playing with the toy bar on her bouncy seat - with her feet. I don't remember Alice ever being as interested in her appendages as Izzy is. It's so neat to see just how different they are. Toys are another big thing in her world right now. She's been rolling (but not consistently) even more lately and if there is a toy near her that is just out of reach you can bet she will try everything in her power to get to it.

- The latest thing she's been doing that makes me grin from ear to ear is she LOVES to sit on my lap and play peek-a-boo. And I don't mean I put my hands on her eyes or my eyes and play it, but rather she will fold herself in half, bury her face in my belly, sit up and I'll say "peek-a-boo!" She'll laugh and then do it all over again. Cracks me up! We have video of the first night she ever did that (although it was after she stopped being REALLY into it) so if you're good I'll upload it so you can see just how damn cute it is.

- A certain special teddy bear got a face lift this week. Well not so much a facelift, more like a face transplant. I had to preform very lengthy surgery on Alice's beloved Teddy (she's very original when she names things) a few days ago. Lately she's been kind of rough with him and my last surgery didn't last for very long. His eye was starting to come undone on Friday so I finally decided he was due for a major overhaul. I spent a good 2 hours total working on getting his arms back together (they come together to "hold" a part of the blanky), sewing the small blanky piece back on, securing both eyes, fixing his nose that has been coming apart for well over a year, and adding his mouth back which we haven't seen since Alice was probably less than a year old. Aside from the fact that he will be forever dirty no matter how many times he is washed, he looks good as new!

- Alice is starting to show just how girly she really is. She's obsessed with princesses, dressing up, and she's got the damsel in distress thing down pat. And the one thing she's been wanting for her birthday is makeup. She always wants to put it on when I'm getting ready in the morning (and I usually oblige) and she's been begging to have some of her own to play with. So I gave in, found a cute Tinkerbell (whom she is also currently obsessed with) pencil case and filled it to the brim with cheap makeup and brushes. I have a feeling it's going to be a big hit!

- She really surprised us when we took her to go see the Toy Story 3D double feature. She had never been to a movie before so we weren't sure how she was going to do for one movie, let alone two, but she did fantastic! Aside from not wearing her glasses for long (which isn't that big a deal, but some parts were especially blurry without glasses) she behaved so well! So well in fact that we bought her the "Where the Wild Things Are" (I know what you're saying, how tragic that you didn't already have that book!) book and we're hoping to take her to see the movie when it comes out soon.

- On a more serious note, Izzy's next cardiologist appointment is tomorrow. We'll discuss what Dr. G's colleagues had to say about Izzy's case and she should have another echo and unless the hole has closed up dramatically we're going to go ahead with surgery. We should have a better idea when that will be tomorrow. She continues to do SO well though, you'd never know she was sick! I think that fact alone is what keeps me from thinking about this surgery. To tell you the truth, it hasn't even hit me yet.

Well the baby is up from her nap so I'll have to stop here. My 4th quarter resolution is to keep up with this much better than I have been. Hopefully I can stick to it!

Happy Birthday Uncle James!

2009-08-27T01:00:00.005-05:00

Thought I'd Clarify

2009-08-07T09:16:00.001-05:00

Izzy's heart on the echo shows signs of congestive heart failure, but
she currently isn't showing any signs of it (like sweaty, rapid
breathing, turning blue when she's calm, etc) which is why the doc was
so shocked when he did the echo because based on the looks of it she
should be.

Thank you bunches for all the support.

Update on Izzy

2009-08-06T19:40:00.001-05:00

We wanted to let you all in on what we discovered at Izzy's
cardiologist appointment today.

First, the good news. The hole in her heart is definitely getting
smaller (yay)!

The bad news is her heart is starting to show signs of congestive
heart failure. Her heart is stressed because some blood is getting
pumped to her lungs and back to the heart again instead of going to
the rest of her body first. He prescribed medicine to help combat
this problem in hopes that her heart will show signs of improvement
long enough for the hole to close on it's own.

So there's that. Good news is she's currently not showing signs of
heart failure, to the shock of her cardiologist.

The other bad news is that she's not gaining weight like he hoped.
She's gone from the 50th percentile at birth, to the 10th or 12th
percentile now. He wants her to gain more as it will make her less
veunerable to disease, especially since RSV season is right around the
corner.

So we're hoping that she does well on the meds and she can put on more
weight by the time her next appointment rolls around. In the meantime
Dr. G is presenting her case to fellow pediatric cardiologists to see
what their point of attack would be to get another opinion.

For now we're still hopeful that the meds can keep her heart healthy
long enough for her heart to do it's thing and heal itself, but the
doc stressed today that he's definitely worried.

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

I'm Home

2009-07-10T14:42:00.004-05:00

Surgery went well, no more gallbladder!

Matt says that I had a small umbilical hernia that they fixed while they were in there.

Tired, hazy, nauseated, and in pain, but hopefully I'll be well enough to take care of the girls by Monday when Matt goes back to work.

and no, Mike, I ~~didn't~~ did not ask to keep it.

(better now, smart ass? :) )

Good News

2009-07-02T15:25:00.002-05:00

Don't have time to post much, but I wanted to let you all know that Izzy had a good cardiologist appointment today. Dr. G checked her out and said she looks great and that the murmur is definitely much louder now (you can even FEEL it!), which should mean that the hole is getting smaller. Hurray! We still don't know for sure, but we'll get confirmation that it's closing when she goes back in a month for an echo.

Momma and Daddy can finally exhale!

Will update with vacation pics ASAP. I have a lot to look through!

Why Are Strangers So Much Nicer In the South?

2009-06-28T15:52:00.000-05:00

I don't think I've ever met a restaurant hostess that was more chipper
than the one we encountered at an O'Charley's near Chattanooga, TN.
Now whenever I dine at said restaurant I won't blame the whole chain
for hiring morons (I've had really bad luck with them and figured it
had to have been a problem they have nationally). Apparantly I just
need to take a LONG roadtrip when I'm craving southern fried chicken
salad and hot sweet rolls.

Anyway, if you couldn't tell we are on our way home. Sadly we left
Georgia and all of our loved ones who live there (or near there)
behind this morning. It was a very sad goodbye and I miss all of them
desperately already. We are currently somewhere outside of Nashville,
TN and plan to stop for the day wherever the road has led us by around
7:30pm. The girls (and, let's face it, the parents) can't take much
more than that in the car so we'll spend the night in a hotel and head
home early tomorrow morning. We should be back in Chicagoland
sometime tomorrow!

I'm so sad it's all over, but we definitely had a blast seeing everyone!

Not Five Minutes From Aunt Rosie's

2009-06-26T14:11:00.000-05:00

And Alice is already passed out cold. Hopefully she'll sleep most of
the way to GA!

Goodbye Lakehouse

2009-06-26T13:58:00.000-05:00

Hello Aunt Rosie and Uncle John!

The family and I packed up our things and left the lakehouse this
morning. We're headed to Georgia to spend a day with my cousin
Jennifer and her new little one and I couldn't resist stopping by and
spending a few hours at Aunt Rosie's house before heading out of state.

It was nice to finally see the house and her yard that I know mom was
always so very fond of. And of course the company was good. Mike,
Rae, Kaylee, James, and Dad joined us a bit later for lunch and good
food was had by all.

Now we're off to Atlanta to see Jen, whom I haven't seen since 2004 (I
think)!

Milestones at the Lakehouse

2009-06-23T18:33:00.000-05:00

Well I missed it because I was slaving over a hot stove making chicken
and dumplings, but apparently Izzy rolled from back to belly! She's
getting so big already!!

I Don't Have Many Photos on the Phone

2009-06-23T14:43:00.001-05:00

So this will have to do for now.

We all arrived safely in NC from our respective parts of the world,
India included. So far we've enjoyed swimming in the lake, genuine
Carolina BBQ, and the company of many realtives.

Tonight it looks like more swimming, discussing plans for tomorrow,
and chicken and dumplings are all on the agenda.

At the moment, life is very good!

Somebody's Smiling

2009-06-16T13:52:00.000-05:00

Izzy started smiling this week! She's also become enamoured with the
toy bar on her bouncy seat. She can sit in that thing for hours so
long as the music and lights are on. I can't wait until she starts
doing it all the time!

It Better Have Been the Best Day of Your Life

2009-06-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

We threw a surprise graduation party for my BIL Freddy this past
weekend. Lots of fun was had by all, especially the kids. This pic
would have been a lot cooler had it been a video instead as you just
can't quite capture that moment without the squeeling and laughter.
Aunt Ann had a lot of fun teaching the kids to bop eachother with the
balloons. Always the instigator.

I Don't Know How Easy It Is To See

2009-06-12T23:16:00.000-05:00

But this pic that Alice "painted" on probably one of the best gifts
ever (thanks Mike and Rae) marks the first time I ever saw her draw
something more than a scribble. If you look in the lower, left corner
you'll see a stick figure that is me, apparantly.

What'd You Say?

2009-06-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

I Habe My Gwampa Eyes On

2009-06-10T13:45:00.001-05:00

That's what she tells me anyway.

Once upon a time Alice swiped these safety glasses from the
Jacksonville house (hope you didn't need them). She hasn't played
with them in a while, in fact I forgot we had them, and today she
pulled them out and said that little gem. She's certainly always good
for a laugh.

Speaking of laughing, we got our new computer this week so we've been
Skyping fools having talked to James and a very giggly Kaylee (and
Mike and Rae too) yesterday. Now that we have a computer that can
handle video chat I have a feeling we'll be doing it more often.

Not much is going on here. If you don't know already I have to have
my gallbladder taken out. The last time I was down at Dad's I had an
attack and after a morning in the J'ville ER (fun, it's SO different
from the hospitals around here) I found out my gallbladder is full of
stones and sludge. A classic post partum presentation they tell me.

So on the 10th of July I go in to have it removed. Hopefully it's
pretty straight forward and there won't be any issues.

We're looking forward to seeing some of you VERY soon!!

My Girls Are So Different

2009-06-08T13:25:00.001-05:00

Alice was always a bit behind when it came to physical milestones. Of
course it never worried me because she was advanced in other areas and
afterall someone has to be below average. Well my little not quite a
two month old Izzy just rolled over so she could get closer to her
stuffed doggie. With the way she moves during tummy time I have a
feeling this kid is going to be mobile MUCH earlier than Alice was!

Somebody Had a Long Day

2009-06-03T20:42:00.001-05:00

What happens when you spend the whole day shopping (we went to the
Wilton's tent sale with Auntie Annie) and playing outside with your
friends?

You fall asleep during dinner with bratwurst on your face.

I'll be off to bed early too if Izzy lets me because I'm pooped! Not
before taking some painkillers though, I have a feeling I'm going to
need them.

Izzy Has the Rice Eyes

2009-05-21T18:48:00.001-05:00

I know, I need to post, but it wouldn't be my blog without a month in
between posts. Now that I've settled into life with two babes I'm
HOPING that I can force myself to post more often. Call it my mid
year resolution.

Anyway, as I sit here in the rocker with a sleeping babe in my arms, I
looked down and realized I passed along at least one trait to my Izzy,
the Rice half open asleep eyes. Wish it was a not so creepy trait
(ask my college roomate, it's creepy) that got passed on, but I'll
take it.

Heading back home tomorrow after nearly a week in Jville. I'm looking
forward to sleeping in my own bed again, but I'm not looking forward
to leaving the fam.

Izzy Update

2009-04-30T22:45:00.001-05:00

Izzy had her first chardiologist appointment today. The office was
like heaven to Alice as it was the first office she'd ever been to
that was totally for kids. This means bright colors, LOTS of toys,
and tiny little uncomfortable waiting room chairs that were just her
size. Needless to say we didn't have to do any Alice wrangling while
we were there.

The appointment went well. The nurse did a lot of poking and prodding
at Izzy and everything still looks normal, which means the hole isn't
giving her any issues yet. Her doc came in (which by the way, I
totally love this guy so far) and listened to her heart. Her murmur
is still there and louder than he remembered. Believe it or not
that's actually a good thing because it could mean the hole is getting
smaller (thus the pressure is different. If it were getting bigger
the pressure would be equal). We'll know for sure in two weeks when
we go back.

I'm glad the first appointment is over. In my mind I was thinking it
would be harder than it actually was. I'll keep you posted (and
update with pics) as I'm finally feeling LOADS better!

Update and pictures

2009-04-21T22:10:00.007-05:00

Sorry we didn't update earlier, but we've been busy.

First, an update on the girls, then the pictures.

Becky is doing OK all things considered. For those who don't know - she had an emergency c-section and lost a lot of blood. On Monday her blood levels were on the borderline for needing a transfusion - the doctor gave us a choice between doing that or going home and resting/taking lots of iron. We decided for the go home route. Becky is very weak, and having some extra aches and pains that are due to the extra fluids they pumped into her. They said that taking iron, drinking lots of water and walking a lot should fix things, so hopefully it goes away soon.

Alice is doing good as the big sister. She is a little frazzled after being shuffled around to various family members for a few days, but things are getting back to normal. Now that we are home it seems like she is getting a little jealous of all the extra attention Izzy gets (feeding, holding, etc.) and is wanting to "be a baby" more often. Becky and I are doing our best to make sure she gets all the attention she needs and that she knows we love her.

Isabel is doing very well. She does have a heart problem called VSD (ventricular septal defect). Basically, it is an 8mm hole between the 2 lower chambers of the heart. We are seeing a pediatric cardiologist about the problem, and basically we are in "wait and see" mode. The hope is that the hole will close itself naturally and nothing further will need to be done. If things don't progress (or if she starts developing symptoms) there are medicines that may help. If it doesn't close on its own, and the medicine doesn't help, she may need to have surgery. Just pray that it closes on its own for us.

And now on to the pictures.

Becky will probably kill me for posting this, but it is the only picture we have of her in labor.

Eww...mucus....but she is so cute!

The nurses are making sure everything is OK.

Her feet are so tiny and cute!

Sleeping in the nursery at the hospital.

Alice's first time seeing Izzy.

You can tell she loves her little sister...

...with kisses...

...at least that made one of them happy.

Hanging out with Uncle Chuck

and Grandpa Charlie

And Grandma Cindy.

Aunt Maggie also made a surprise visit.

Alice is all about helping mommy recover.

No mommy, I don't want to be unwrapped!

Gnome kiss!

Sleeping in mommy's arms.

This is a cute picture of Izzy, but it also is good for demonstrating how swelled Becky's hands are from the fluids being pumped into her. She also has Fred Flintstone size feet.

Grandma and Grandpa Bathje came to visit on Tuesday.

Alice playing with Grandpa.

Grandma and Grandpa Bathje brought M&Ms. Yum!

That is all for now, more to come as cute things happen.

Good bye creepy alien

2009-04-18T22:16:00.003-05:00

I have removed the creepy floating alien baby from the side bar.

You are welcome.

Hope to have some more pics up tomorrow or Monday. The ones of Alice holding Izzy are extra cute.

Here She Is!

2009-04-17T08:45:00.002-05:00

Isabel Rose
4/17/09
4:23am
7lbs. 12oz.
20.5in.

Born via emergency c-section - mommy and baby are doing well.

Thought You'd Like to Know

2009-04-16T21:26:00.000-05:00

My water broke at 4:45pm! No real contractions though so they just
started me on pitocin to get things moving. I have to stay in bed
because she's not in my pelvis and since my water already broke there
would be a greater risk of cord prolapse (pinching of the cord between
head and pelvis) until she drops. I'm not happy about that, but there
isn't anything I can do about it.

So since my water broke she has until 4:45pm tomorrow to make her
appearance or they'll have to take her or risk infection.

So not long now and we'll be a family of 4!! I'm so excited!

Alice and Daddy Have a Conversation About Dessert

2009-04-15T20:31:00.001-05:00

Alice: But why do I have to eat eggies?!

Daddy: Because the cookies said so.

Alice: Wahhhhh.
*pause*
Daddy, cookies don't talk!

This kid is wise beyond her years!

Ten on Tuesday

2009-03-31T19:26:00.008-05:00

So...we accidentally missed a few Tuesday's, and everybody is clamoring for an update so I'm going to do one for you.

Here are some Christmas pictures, since we haven't done a real update about that.
Santa got Uncle Ryan a sweet new toy. The girls weren't allowed near this obviously.

The leopard girls.

Alice and Kaylee got matching strollers and dolls for Christmas and had a blast running around Grandma and Grandpa's house with them. Unfortunately this is the best picture we got of that.

Alice and JJ. Not sure why Alice is attempting to pick her nose through her upper lip, I taught her the proper way...

Alice tracing her hand on the day after Christmas.
We had several visits from Auntie Tori, and Grandma Cindy/Grandpa Charlie/Maggie made a visit as well. The chicken and dumplings were (was?) awesome, it just took about 3 hours longer to cook than we thought it would.

Alice and Tori playing with the easel Alice got from the Arizona Rice's for Christmas. She loves this thing, thanks guys!
Alice LOVES to read. We read her books every day, and she reads them back to us as well. When she is reading, they usually go something like "once upon a time, there was a girl named Alice and she was a princess - she had a mommy and a daddy, THE END". I've read War and Peace 3 times, and that was definitely the best version.I think Becky was just testing the camera or something - but this is a darn cute picture.
Becky and the baby are doing OK - Becky is mostly just tired of being pregnant and can't wait for it to be over. As of her last doctor visit the baby was breech, but they said that is nothing to worry about...yet. We think she (the baby, not Becky) flipped sometime recently, but neither of us are doctors.
We just got back from our successful "Steal the Watermelon" caper. Strong Bad would be proud.
Alice is getting very excited, and talks to the baby in mommy's belly a lot. She also comes up with elaborate little stories about how she is going to help us with the baby, or play with the baby. Some of it is in the video below, but she wasn't really into it when I recorded this.

Unfortunately, both Alice and Becky have been perpetually sick for...a long time... Alice has a hacking cough that won't go away, and Becky keeps getting cold/flu like symptoms on and off. We've all been to the doctor (I had it for a few days myself) but it looks like this is a (non-flu) virus so they can only treat the symptoms. No pictures for this, that would be gross.

Thanks to the unseasonably warm weather recently, Becky and Alice have been outside to play a few times. One day they even got to go out for a picnic, and Alice loved that.
At the park

Playing hopscotch - only missed it by 3 feet

Eating at the picnic in the backyard
The picnic made me sad - because when I got home from work that day, this is what Alice said to me "we had picnic and ate apples and peanut butter sandwiches and you were at work and I miss you!" (I'm paraphrasing of course.)
Alice has grown up a little since our last blog post - she is talking in fuller sentences, and can mostly hold a conversation. This also means a change in her TV viewing habits. She isn't on the Caillou and Sesame Street so much anymore, but she LOVES Dora.
Too bad she's already outgrown this shirt
For whoever was frightened by my poor attempt at a beard - that scraggly, wispy, ugly thing is gone. The result of my experience is this - it is not possible for me to grow a ZZ Top beard in 3 months. Even 3 years seems dicey.
Seriously? This is nearly 3 months of growth?

That is 10 things, so hopefully this is good enough for you all. Becky says she will be doing a post soon, but if not I'll try to be better at keeping them going. Here is one last picture of Alice to get that ugly visage of me out of your brains.

Oooohhh, a movie star!

Look Who Fell Asleep...

2009-01-13T15:37:00.017-06:00

Holding my hand in the middle of lunch.

I haven't updated much lately, but I promise to get pics from Xmas and the trip to Jville up soon. Most of you know that we lost our 13 year old nephew, Wesley, on the 2nd to a massive stroke, and Gram was hospitalized around the same time. I've been under a lot of stress as one would expect, so I've been trying to take it easy and de-stress. I'm having quite a few contractions (which the doc isn't terribly worried about) and my blood pressure has been high (something we're keeping an eye on) so the less stress the better. Please keep the family, especially my BIL and SIL, in your thoughts and prayers. We could all really use them right now.

Baby Isabel (we have a name!) reached viability on Sunday, but let's hope she cooks at least another 10 weeks more or better! It's a nice milestone to reach because I know that if, God forbid, something were to happen and I'd have to deliver her now that she'd have at least some chance of survival and that the docs would actually take drastic measures to save her. I found out I have placenta previa (basically the placenta is blocking the opening of the cervix) and will have another ultrasound in 6 weeks to see if it has moved. Doc said that in about 90% of cases it does move with the growth of the uterus so I'm not too concerned about having a c-section at the moment. Obviously if it doesn't move I'll need a section because she won't be able to get out w/o killing her blood supply. Plus I don't particularly want to bleed out.

Despite all of the hard things we've been dealing with, things are good here. Our 6 year wedding anniversary is coming up on Sunday, and Tori is coming for a visit this weekend. Hopefully they will both be a good distraction!

I'm Up At 2AM Because...

2008-12-23T01:58:00.003-06:00

I'm getting my butt kicked by KILLER acid reflux from the tuna salad I had for dinner. Tuna salad - REALLY?! UGH!

At least I'm not up because Alice is "crying" and screaming for no reason.

For once.

So It's Been 21 Weeks...

2008-12-22T23:12:00.011-06:00

And I've hardly mentioned this pregnancy! Granted I haven't posted much either, but we won't bring that up again. So far things have been going well. I had the typical 1st trimester morning sickness and fatigue accompanied by killer migraines. Once I hit 13 or 14 weeks though things started to get back to normal. I'm still feeling a bit of fatigue, and I'm having some mild pregnancy related tachycardia, but it's nothing I didn't have with Alice. My doctors figured then that I'm just sensitive to pregnancy induced anemia, and they seem to think the same this time around. Thankfully I've already had all the testing done so I don't have to go through any of that again this time around (THANK THE LORD!).

I've been feeling the baby kick for quite a while now, but nothing that was too significant. In fact, up until a few weekends ago I never had a kick that I was 100% sure was baby and not gas (seriously). I was pretty sure, but it wasn't until we went to go see Changeling that I was absolutely sure I was getting whacked by the baby. I swear the little stinker didn't stop moving the whole time we were in the movie theater! In fact since then I've felt the baby A LOT (a lot more than I ever felt Alice at this stage) every day. It's kind of nice, especially since it's not the DAMMIT KID, THAT HURTS! kind of movement yet.

Here I am at 21 weeks - much larger than I was with Alice at this point!

So today was the anatomy scan that they do at around 20 weeks. Everything looks good to my untrained eye, but what do I know. Baby is measuring about 8 days behind my current EDD, but I tend to have longer cycles and my OB told me with my first ultrasound that he would like to adjust it to reflect the longer cycles, but baby measured 6 days behind the EDD and they only adjust it if baby measures 7 days or more behind. So we'll see, they may just adjust it to around May 11th. The tech didn't stay too long on one particular spot, so I'm assuming for now that that is good. With Alice they couldn't get a good look at the four chambers of the heart and they stayed on that for quite a while trying to get a picture. I'll find out for sure in a few days when the doctor calls. My uterus must just be more comfortable when laying facing outward because this baby, just like Alice, was facing outward. So no pretty profile shot with this one either. The tech tried for us b/c I had mentioned not getting one with Alice, but it's not quite a full profile.

Hands up by the face.

Skeletor Face.

The attempt at a profile shot. Head in the bottom left corner.

SOOOOOO...up until yesterday I was all set on NOT finding out the sex with this baby just like we did with Alice. For some reason my brain was churning all night and all day today and I broke down and decided that I wanted to find out the sex, if for nothing else than for the experience. I know I can prepare for a baby w/o knowing the sex because we did it with Alice, I don't care one way or the other if it's a boy or a girl so I don't need 20 more weeks to prepare myself for the opposite sex of what I wanted. I just wanted to know to say that I did it once in my life. So without dragging this out even more, in May the Bathje/Rice family is going to add one more...

GIRL!

Btw, Alice was so excited and could not stop talking about seeing the baby on the TV at the doctor's office. I sure hope she's this excited when the baby is actually here!

If any of you out there know my Mother in law, you're sworn to
secrecy because she absolutely does not want to know!

Happy Holidays - Part 3

2008-12-21T14:16:00.003-06:00

This weekend was full of LOTS of baking. Cheesecake, peanut butter blossoms, sugar cookie cut outs, banana cake for my FIL, puppy chow, and cream cheese foldovers were all on the to do list on Saturday! It seemed like we baked ALL day, but I seem to forget that huge chunk of time where Alice napped on me, Matt napped on the couch (will get to Alice's horrible sleep habits in a later post) and I watched a Christmas themed movie or two on TCM. Needless to say it was quite fun baking with the whole fam! I seriously can't believe how big a help Alice was - she even perfected the dip and squish of the foldover dough!

Happy Holidays - Part 2

2008-12-21T12:56:00.000-06:00

Up next - a visit from the Jolly Man himself. SANTA! He showed up at my Mother and Father in law's house 10 days early to check in on the Bathje clan, and he brought with him a big bag of presents (did you expect anything less from Santa?) for all the little kiddos.

Alice got in some practice for when the baby comes in May.
Matt's cousin Patrick brought his little girl Samantha over to have her first visit with Santa.
Alice loved it - Sam, not so much.

See - much happier when not being held by a toddler. :)

It's not Christmas at Grandma's w/o a train around the tree.
The kids could have watched it for hours!

Alice was VERY excited to see Santa when he came in the door.
She kept saying "Santa, PRESENTS!!"
Then she realized she had to sit on his lap.
It could have gone worse.

Needless to say she was extremely happy to get off of his lap.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BATHJE FAMILY!

Happy Holidays - Part 1

2008-12-21T11:44:00.005-06:00

I realized I had better make a post or two about all that has gone on this Holiday Season before Thursday comes and goes. We'll start this trio of posts off with decorating the tree. This year, surprisingly, we did it on time! Matt and I usually don't even get the tree up until very close to Christmas, which means we leave it up well into (and I mean WELL) the new year so we can have some time to enjoy it. This year, however, Matt scored some serious brownie points with me when he put up the tree and the lights while Alice and I were still down in J'ville visiting Grandma and Grandpa. All Alice and I had to do was add the ornaments and it instantly felt like Christmas!!

And yes she wore her Halloween outfit from Grandma and Grandpa to decorate the tree. What can I say, nothing gets worn once around here!

Some Thanksgiving Outtakes

2008-12-20T11:23:00.007-06:00

So Matt updated you on most of our trip home. The rest consisted of holiday shopping with Grandpa, hanging out with Uncle Chuck, flirting with Travis - the contractor (Alice flirted, NOT me!), naming fishies after Travis, listening to Travis make lots of noise in the "brown" bathroom, baking cookies, and waiting for Grandma to come home from work (we did a lot of this, although one night we went to Grandma and got to watch a Jr. High Basketball game - woo hoo!). The following are picture outtakes from our time spent in J'ville.

Uncle Ry is great at building Duplo castles and trains.
Uncle Chuck could give him a run for his money though.
Uncle James - wish you could have been there,
I'm sure you would have smoked them both.

The daily ritual of riding the Uncle Chuck horsey.
I think she nearly ripped his face off this day.

GG wanted to get a pic of the three of us together - Alice had other ideas.

Like kissing Ava.

So we settled for a pic of the two of us.
MISS YOU GRAM, WE HAD A BLAST!

Alice and Emily had a grand time preparing for Black Friday shopping.

Lilly the Camera lover.
For those of you who weren't there, ALL of the Trimmer girls are SO grown up now!
Makes me feel so old. :)

They're definitely still kids though. :)

The annual GG Xmas photo went off w/o a hitch.
There were a few butt shots though.
(sorry to whomever is the owner of this specimen - it had to be done)

FINALLY, shots of the girls where ALL of them are looking!
(only took about 100 shots)

Then the cute look over at GG - excluding Alice of course.

And then Emily went digging for gold.

And then nothing happened for a while

2008-12-17T20:29:00.005-06:00

Apparently we were hibernating or something between November 2 and Thanksgiving break, as we have no pictures during that period. The above was taken on 12/10. I guess that means we jump right into Thanksgiving pictures.

We visited Jacksonville for the entire week before Thanksgiving, so we got to spend a lot of time with Grandma Cindy, Grandpa Charlie, Auntie Tori and Uncle Chuck. Aunt JJ, Uncle Ryan and, of course, GG all stopped by to visit as well. The entire trip was a lot of fun; we just hung around the house and relaxed most of the time - which is pretty much my idea of heaven, even if it sounds boring.

GG stayed with us in Jacksonville for about 2 days, but we unfortunately didn't get any good pictures of it.

Here is the best I could come up with of GG.

I think she was taking pictures of Alice playing with her new puzzle.

Or possibly playing with Uncle James's Duplos

We had a great time with GG, and wished she could have stayed with us longer. Those tounges and hearts don't cook themselves. They were tasty too, thanks GG!

This is just another "no reason except I think it is cute" picture

By the way, I promise I didn't have to Photoshop myself seemingly picking my nose from the background of any of these pictures...maybe it was the Bathje side...just not so much uncles, and moreso fathers.

Playing Catchup

2008-12-16T20:34:00.008-06:00

These pictures were taken on November 2, 2008. A few weekends before that Auntie Annie decided it would be fun for the kids to play in the leaves - which it would have been if there were more than 4 total leaves at that point. The 2nd was more when her plans came to fruition, plus it was just a really nice fall day.

Augie, Alice and Amanda hamming it up for the camera

I guess we didn't realize they were marijuana leaves

No funny caption for these 2, I just thought they were cute.

You may notice that these pictures don't look as professional as the ones Becky uploads. That is for 3 reasons. First and foremost, I'm lazy. Second, I'm stupid (what the heck does overexposed mean, which was the criticism Becky had for many of these pictures?) Third and maybe most importantly, I don't have the mad photochopping skillz like Becky...so deal with it.

Finally - a personal note to James - if my posts aren't good enough for you, just don't read them. But also don't look at all the cute pictures of your god daughter...jerk :)

Baby Update

2008-12-16T18:48:00.003-06:00

If you dare to gaze at the horrors of the Creepy Floating Fetus in the sidebar, you will notice that Becky is around 20 weeks into the pregnancy. This is considered the halfway point for most human pregnancies.

Becky had a doctor appointment this morning, and they say things are going well. The doctor actually was trying to kill some time because Becky didn't have any problems or questions. Next week is the 20 week ultrasound - we explained that to Alice so she keeps saying "see the baby on the TV?"

The baby is starting to move around pretty hardcore, so Becky is starting to internally feel the kicks and punches. Hopefully that means Alice and I will get to start feeling them soon as well - I can't wait to see Alice's reaction.

We are also still working on coming up with names. None of the "other" ones we came up with to potentially name Alice seem very good anymore, so we are looking at anything right now. Since we liked Alice so much, the list so far is:

Boys:

Alice-ter

Girls:

Alice-son
Alice-ia

Or we could go all George Foreman and just name all our children Alice. We'll see.

Do not adjust your dial...

2008-12-15T21:23:00.010-06:00

Since Becky isn't feeling up to posting much and everybody is yelling at her for updates, I'm going to help out and post occasionally.

A quick update on what has been going on with us.

I took the week of Thanksgiving off work, and we went down to Jacksonville to visit with the Rice/Carlson family. We also got to spend some time with GG, and have Thanksgiving in "the middle of nowhere" (Melvin) as usual. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing the whole Trimmer clan. We added a new tradition of going to another middle of nowhere (Blue Mound) to have Thanksgiving lunch/family reunion with Cindy’s extended family. Ryan also tried to add another new tradition – intra-family car accidents – but we all thought that should be a one-time thing.
The week after Thanksgiving, I went home and rolled bachelor-style while Becky and Alice stayed in Jacksonville for the week. Grandma Cindy was pretty busy, so they mostly hung out with Grandpa and Uncle Chuck.
The weekend of December 6th was the church bazaar and Christmas luncheon. We had fun looking at all the items for sale, eating chicken salad, spiced peaches and 4 Pringles. Charlie and I were the only men in a room of 100 old ladies - and a few young ones – Becky, Alice, JJ and Cindy.
While Becky and Alice were gone, I setup our tree and put on the lights. We decorated the tree when everybody was home, and Alice LOVED it, although the bottom of the tree had a few extra ornaments at first.
The weekend of December 13th was extremely busy (for us at least). Alice went to stay with Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bill on Saturday night. They went to Brookfield Zoo to see the animals and the Christmas lights. The weather didn’t really cooperate, but they had a great time. While we were childless, Becky and I went to a movie and out to dinner (and to breakfast). On Sunday, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Bathje’s house. Santa showed up to visit with all the little ones and bring them gifts. There were 9 kids in the house, and it was a riot.

Expect pictures of all this stuff soon. Here is one to tide you over:

>Alice obviously takes after some of her uncles. I'll let you decide which ones.

Fun With Grandpa

2008-11-29T17:24:00.002-06:00

Grandpa broke out Great Grandpa Rice's Lincoln Logs today. He braved the floor long enough to show her how to build a much better house than her Daddy built for her, which still wasn't all that great. Tomorrow Matt goes home and we'll hopefully get Grandma and Grandpa's tree lit and decorated before he leaves us for the week. Alice and I will be spending another week here in J'ville, and I'm sure we'll have a great time!

By the way, this is my first iPhone post so bare with me.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-08T18:03:00.005-06:00

A little over a week late. Seriously you really can't complain, it's pretty par for the course for me. :) This was the first year Alice actually went Trick-or-Treating and MAN did she have a blast! We went over to Nicole and Paul's house so we could go out with them, and later we ate dinner together. Alice nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized that we could go from door to door with a little bag and say "Trick-or-Treat" and complete strangers would give us candy. 9 times out of 10 she said those words long before we ever got to the door. One observation I made was that my BARELY two year old had MUCH better manners than 90% of the kids (and a good portion of the adults too) we saw - and for the most part she did it unprompted.

She had a hard time going up the stairs carrying a bag bogged down with candy (she refused to let anyone else carry it) so I usually went up with her which meant people had to wait for the two of us to come up and down the narrow stairs (most of the homes we went to were all by the same builder so they had the same stairs) together. There were even a few ADULTS who pushed their way in front of Alice and I just so they could get to the door with their babies sooner. Needless to say I was quite happy when some of the homeowners refused to give them candy until Alice got hers because afterall she was there first. It wasn't the Halloween I remember when I was a kid (is it really Halloween when it's sunny and a high of 72*F?), but it was a good night that we ended in Paul and Nicole's backyard roasting S'mores.

Alice's Bday Party - By the Numbers

2008-11-08T16:44:00.007-06:00

2 - number of years Alice has been on earth.
3 - number of people who were here to celebrate Alice's actual Bday (Uncle Chuck came a day earlier than most).

60 - the number of dollars Dad spent on Panera and White Castle for the Rice clan before we set up for the party (Uh, I mean 50. Yeah, 50).
1,200 - number of square feet in our house, and that's a generous estimate.
24 - number of people who crammed into about 500 of that.
5 - number of people who didn't outwardly mind sitting next to a cat box (not my idea, I promise!).
1 - the number of people in attendance who DIDN'T know I'm pregnant (maybe that someone should check his email more often then).
5 - number of dishes we made to serve all of our hungry guests (one being an excellent rendition of mom's potato salad - MMMMMM!).
1 - number of train wrecked, albeit very tasty, cakes.

1 - number of children I have with a split personality (Alice laughed, then cried, then laughed, etc when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her).
16 - number of presents received.
4 - number of presents thrown to the wayside - and they were all clothing.

10 - number of years worth of PlayDough we now have.
3 - the number of hours most people stayed.
0 - the number of dishes I personally ended up washing - thanks to my MIL and Cindy.
5 - number of guests who slept on the floor or couches (Dad got Alice's bed).
1 - number of scratched eyes endured at the hand of a balloon on a stick (and of course it was the Bday girl).
1 - number of migraines I had by the end of the night.
MANY - the number of people we wish could have been there.

That's all the pictures you get from the weekend. Why you ask? Well because we don't have many more that are worth sharing. When your house is crowded, you've got a migraine that just won't go away, and 20+ guests on their way in or out of your house the last think I think about is taking pictures (plus I'm thinking we REALLY need a zoom - anyone want to buy one for me?!). Of course that's MY excuse, Matt will have to find his own.

If any of you who were here have pictures you are willing to share, please email them to me!

In Case My Last Post Was Too Subtle...

2008-10-25T10:37:00.002-05:00

Baby Bathje ETA May 3, 2009 (that makes me 13 weeks pregnant tomorrow).

Pumpkins and Bday Cake

2008-10-24T09:54:00.006-05:00

We had a special treat this week, Auntie Mary and her boyfriend Andy came over for a visit with the then soon to be birthday girl. We had plans to carve pumpkins, eat yummy pizza, and a beautiful birthday cake made by Auntie Mary. We were celebrating her birthday early because Mary won't be able to join us tomorrow for all the festivities. We definitely had a good time!

Alice was still sleeping when Mary and Andy arrived.
In true Mommy fashion I decided to take a pic of her looking like an angel.
(By the way, that's "Daddy Doll" she's sleeping with.
One of the many items that we rotate at bedtime.
If we didn't she'd be lost in a sea of stuffed animals.)

The camera flash woke her up. Good thing too, Auntie was ready to scoop her up!

We started the pumpkin carving with out Daddy. We would have been up very late if we had!
Big thanks to Andy who played photographer for the night with my camera.
I really didn't want to get pumpkin guts on it!

I thought she'd be all over touching the pumpkin guts,
but she really didn't care one way or the other.

She sure did love using the big giant spoon though!

Surprisingly she didn't loose interest once.
I thought for sure after 20 minutes she'd be ready to get out of the booster seat and go play.
She was still sitting there when Daddy got home!

She was pretty upset that I wouldn't let her use a knife herself.
I had to resort to telling her to play blocks with the pieces to distract her.

When we were done and just waiting for the pizza to arrive,
(and for Matt to finish his pumpkin)
we decided to let her open her present.
I can't wait for tonight when she opens some from us
and the one from Mike, Rae, and Kaylee
because she totally gets what presents are now.
In fact I've been dealing with constant meltdowns since the package
from AZ arrived because I won't let her open it NOW!

She very much enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to herself.
Yes, she sang it, very enthusiastically I might add, to herself.
I'm hoping she does the same thing tomorrow so I can get it on video.

And here are the pumpkins - one for every member of the family. ;)

I can't believe my little girl is TWO! It's so amazing to see how much she's grown in just two short years. They've definitely been some of the best years of my life! Well we've got a lot left to do today to get ready for tomorrow (one of the big things is making the cakes) so I should probably run. Will hopefully update with pics from tonight before I head off to bed tonight, don't hold your breath though. :)

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

2008-10-21T09:54:00.002-05:00

I know it's been forever, should have some updates this week though as we have a lot planned. So for right now we'll just keep this post for Uncle Ryan who turns 22 today.

Hope it's a good one and we can't wait to see you!!

Uncle James Would be Proud

2008-10-06T22:59:00.004-05:00

Ok so I'm not going to address why I've been absent because you've heard it all before from me. All that really matters is I'm posting now, right? Thought so. So tonight I decided that since we had quite a few green peppers to use up before they went bad that we'd have Texas Hash (for those of you who don't know what Texas Hash is, think the stuffing of a stuffed green pepper except a bit less meat and with the peppers cut up into it) for dinner. Man does the smell of that dish bring back memories! I can vaguely remember one night at Grandma's house and a certain Rice boy decided that he wasn't going to eat the mush Mom put in front of him. Little did he know that Mom and Dad practice cruel and unusual punishment and they made him stay at the table until the last bite (it probably took him a good hour to swallow that last one) was gone.

Alice must have the same Texas Hash hating genes that James does for as soon as I opened the lid to the pot she turned up her nose and said "Ahh dun." Pfff, at least give it a chance before you decide you hate it will you kid?! No I didn't force her to stay at the table and finish what was on her plate (had she been a few years older though this story might have a different ending), but I did make her eat about half of it before I gave in and let her have a piece of my chocolate caramel bar I saved for desert.

Though now that I think about it, Texas Hash must be an acquired taste because I remember not liking it so much when I was a kid either. I, however, was never teased for refusing to swallow a measly little mouthful of it. And I'm sure one of us had his windmill cookie for desert that night too.

My bet is on Dad.

Damn Canadians

2008-09-17T14:45:00.007-05:00

As of late Alice has two shows that when they are on she has to see them. You already know one and that's Sesame Street. The other is this cooky one out of Canada called Caillou (pronounced Kai-You). Now I'm not a big fan of this show, but it also hasn't given me a reason to HATE it until yesterday.

You see, yesterday Caillou was making cookies with his babysitter (just happened to be the creepy old man next door) and Alice goes BONKERS wanting a cookie. Well Caillou comes on RIGHT before nap time and I wasn't about to give her one until she woke up. It was all I could do to convince her that she couldn't have one now, but if she slept good she could have one when she woke up. I eventually convinced her that this was a good idea and off she went to dreamland. Fast forward a few hours later when I hear stirring coming from her room. I enter and instead of getting greeted by lovely things like:

MOMMEEEEEYYYY! or
HIIIII MOMMA!! or even the occasional
WAAAAAHHH!
I hear:
Mommy, COOKIE?! COOKIE MOMMY?!

You would have thought I was torturing her the way she screamed and waled when I told her:
Let's change your diaper first.

I thought this would be a one time thing, but apparently I underestimated the power 4 year old Canadian CARTOON boys have over my daughter. This morning it was the same thing. No usual cute greeting, no hugs for Mommy, no cuddling for a few minutes while baby girl wakes up. The first thing out of her mouth this morning was:

COOKIE?!

Are you KIDDING me?! You're killing me kid.

FYI: I don't REALLY hate Canadians - some of my best friends are Canadian. Now Matt, HE'S another story (I'll let you decide if I meant Matt hates Canadians or if I hate Matt).

It's Self Explanitory

2008-09-07T10:51:00.002-05:00

Expect a package from us sometime next week. I'm not quite done with your gift so it will have to be late. :) Happy Birthday Grandma Cindy!

Ok, Quit Your Whining

2008-09-06T21:46:00.000-05:00

Just for Maggie

2008-09-05T12:33:00.003-05:00

Doh, thought I uploaded the edited version. Oh well, I'm not going to spend another 15 minutes waiting for it to upload. Happy Birthday Maggie!

Because Mike Did It First - Wordle

2008-08-27T09:59:00.004-05:00

This post was brought to you today by the letter W.

I Know You Wish You Were Here

2008-08-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Cause I've got pie and you don't!!
Actually, I wish you were here to enjoy it with me.

HAPPY 24th LITTLE BROTHER!!

Ten on Tuesday

2008-08-26T14:45:00.004-05:00

Alice hasn't been eating well lately and it's starting to become an every meal thing. The other day it took her 2 hours to finish her breakfast. Granted I would have taken it away earlier and called it done had she not insisted she wasn't done. She did eat it all. I've been told this is a two year old thing - great I have an overachiever on my hands.
Dad, Cindy, and Tori are coming up for the holiday weekend. Don't know what we're going to do yet, but I'm sure it involves a choo-choo and downtown. Dad, you're coming whether you like it or not - screw the lesson plans.
Allergies suck. I NEVER had issues with allergies until the summer when I was pregnant with Alice. Since then they just keep getting worse every time the seasons change. Looks like fall is right around the corner - Matt, Alice, Kathy, and I are all having issues. Snuh.
A certain someone celebrates his 24th birthday tomorrow. And I didn't even need a reminder in the form of email, PDA alert, etc to remember. Dad on the other hand...
Let's just say that there are several reasons why Cindy has been good for him. Gone are the days of belated birthday cards, although I don't know what dad is going to do with his stockpile of them. He may have to intentionally send them off late just to clear them out of his card holder.
I just placed an order to have several pictures printed, one of them being the 16 x 20 of Matt and Alice on the beach at sunset. I so cannot wait for them to get here (especially since I've heard such good things about the lab I used).
Apparently I make some kick ass stir fry because Fred could not stop raving about it. He and Kathy came over for dinner on Saturday night and with every bite he'd say, "Man this is good!" I should definitely make it more often and I thought it tasted extra good myself.
I can't believe September is right almost here! That means fall is nearly here, which means October is nearly here, which means Alice is nearly two. Some days I really can't believe it, and then I look at how grown up she is and I sometimes catch myself wishing to have my baby back. Of course I wouldn't trade this time for anything - there's nothing I enjoy more than to watch her figure things out.
Of course that means that Matt and I REALLY need to be more aware of what comes out of our mouths as the little bugger is getting to the point where not only does she repeat things, but she starts to figure out what things mean. No more sarcastic comments at dinner, mmkay Matt?
It's time to break out the crochet hooks and bring up the buckets of yarn from the storage closet. Alice needs a new hat or two and I have a few other babies that I need to make things for as well. Hey Kay, does last years monkey hat still fit? If not, you may want to place an order. And no, Mike, they still don't come in adult sizes.

Mental note - don't use blogger lists, otherwise you'll have to have your computer geek husband show you how to add spaces between using some sort of style thingy. And that really doesn't help those of you out there who aren't special enough to have a web geek for a husband.

I've Been Tagged!

2008-08-22T20:59:00.004-05:00

Erika tagged me!
Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules to your blog
3. Write 6 random things about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

Six random things about me:

Clicky, Clicky for Erika's blog.

1. I'm OBSESSED with this game on Facebook called Packrat. I'd be embarrassed to tell you just HOW obsessed I really am with it (at least Erika understands :)).

2. I got told all the time before and after Matt and I got married to wait to have kids. As much as we wanted them right away, I'm glad that for one reason or another it didn't happen for three years. We really got to know each other as husband and wife before adding a kid into the mix.

3. Reality Tv is a guilty peasure of mine. Give me starving models and vapid rich kids and I will blissfully waste away an afternoon to the dismay of my husband.

4. I'm a sucker for tearjerker blogs. I've been known to stumble upon blogs (usually about loss in one form or another) in the middle of the night, start at the beginning and bawl my eyes out until I reach the most current post. I generally see the sun rise on nights like these.

5. Matt and I haven't been to see a movie since Juno came out. Mental note, gotta get Netflix.

6. I loath wrapping presents. I hate it so much that every year I put off wrapping them until the last possible moment, and almost always end up with craptastic results. So if you see a lousy wrapping job under your tree this Xmas, please know I tried my best.

Told you it was totally random.
I don't really have anyone who I can tag other than family, and I know what slackers they are so I won't even bother asking...TAG YOU'RE IT!

Ok that was lame.

The Black Sheep Visits

2008-08-21T21:39:00.007-05:00

Last weekend, as many of you already know, Maggie, my honorary sister, came to visit Alice (yes I will say Alice because let's face it, in the years that we've lived less than an hour from one another she's come to visit once - and that was when everyone else was here too). She came bearing gifts of yummy panera tuna sandwiches, hugs, and that obnoxious (I mean infectious ;)) laugh of hers. She laughed at my inability to cut watermelon into manageable slices (in my defense, I had to use a butter knife ;) ), and I laughed at her as she dressed up like Super Maggie. All in all we had a great time, but it was definitely too short. Love ya Mag.

After lunch was over, Alice decided Maggie had to see every toy that was in her toy box.
Here, Alice stuck a sorting block on her finger and demanded that Maggie do the same.
If you could only hear the giggles that came out of Alice.

Alice had to stop the commotion and call GG.

Beck, don't take a pic of me looking like a dork.
Seriously Beck.
I HATE you.
Oh to hell with it...
SUPER MAGGIE!!
(click on image to view larger)

Maggie does the best Grover impersonations...

...and uncle Mike impersonations.

Maggie: Peek-a-boo!
Alice: Boobies!

Now that's love, folks.

Tug - Part 2

2008-08-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share a few random pics that didn't fit in the other post.

I think I'm going to print this one it's so neat!

This pic is just for Auntie Annie. :)

Ten on Tuesday - Tug Fest Edition

2008-08-19T07:51:00.008-05:00

Give me some credit, I'm only a week late.

1. The ride over was pretty uneventful - although now a days Alice gets very restless when she's in her carseat for longer than an hour. We stopped the car a few times to get her some things from the back to play with. I forgot to bring a wide assortment of items for her so in an act of desperation I gave her a baseball cap that just happened to be in the car. Of course that thing amused her longer than any of the books or toys I brought for her.

2. Sonic was the theme of the weekend. Every day we were there we made a stop for a slush or some food. I've learned I don't like their watermelon flavor, I would give my right arm for their real lime slush, their coffee coolers are worth every palpitation, and Santa needs to bring my SIL a GPS for X-mas.*

3. My nephew deserves a medal for allowing me to take scads of pictures of him. I had just read about a certain technique the day before and he came equipped with a kick ass glowstick so I had to take advantage. To tell you the truth, I think he had just as much fun as I did.

4. As usual, the fireworks were the best around. Of course I am used to Jacksonville fireworks so that may be why I think they are so fabulous. Alice was nodding off in my arms during them, I'm just going to blame that on sheer exhaustion though.

5. Yep, it was definitely exhaustion. We had barely left for the hotel when she was out like a light in her carseat. She slept the whole way there, didn't flinch when I took her out of the carseat, and didn't even open her eyes when I laid her down in the bed. We didn't even bother putting her in her PJs.

6. The next day was the Tug and like usual we didn't venture down the road to get the full view. I always enjoy the company back at the house much more than seeing Illinois kick Iowa's butt (we swept this year, BTW). Besides, we can see quite a lot and hear everything from the comfort of the front lawn. This year two couples got married on either side at the same time (on Friday) and the very last tug on Saturday the wedding parties tugged for the chance to win a trip. This would have been the only thing I would have cared to see as the groomsmen were wearing bridesmaid dresses and the bridesmaids were wearing tuxedos. The Discovery Channel was there this year so if I'm lucky I'll still be able to catch it.

7. Later that day we went with my BIL to a well known greasy spoon for their signature dish - a mountain of ground beef, fries, texas toast, and cheese they called The Magic Mountain. Otherwise known to us "southern" folk as a horseshoe. There was no way I could convince Joe that unfortunately this wasn't an original idea - didn't stop me from eating it though, of course.

8. Alice swam like a fishy in the hotel pool that night with everyone joining in but Auntie Kathy. That's ok Kath, I understand. But next time you will get in, even if I have to throw you in! ;)

9. Nothing eventful happens on Sunday. We all pitch in (well MOST of us) and clean up the yard and enjoy a fabulous breakfast prepared by Matt's Aunt Eva. Not only did we go home with leftover food in our car, but Alice now has her very own doll house courtesy of Uncle George and Aunt Eva. You see, nearly 30 years ago they bought a kit for their daughter and Uncle George just never finished it. It's been sitting in the basement collecting dust, and since they don't have any granddaughters to enjoy it, they thought that Alice might. It needs a lot of work, but we'll get it done. Cross your fingers because we're shooting for it to be done by the next Tug Fest!

10. We had one last stop at Sonic on our way home - Alice missed out as she passed out before we left Port Byron. We enjoyed the peace and quiet nearly all the way to Aurora.

*Annie and Margaret ended up making what should have been a half hour round trip into two hours. Surprisingly enough my MIL's slush was still very icy (so were the hamburgers)!

Ten on Tuesday

2008-08-05T22:33:00.004-05:00

1. I reminisced about South Haven today. The beach toys have been sitting on my deck since we unloaded the car after the trip home. I had forgotten about them until they fell over in the bad storm last night. Today I decided it was about time I washed them up and put them away and I couldn't help but think of our time there as I washed the sand down the drain.

2. Cottage cheese is a pain to clean off of carpet.

3. Maggie's recipe from last week is incredible! Even Alice, my little herbivore, loved it.

4. AIM chat sucks. Whoever heard of not being able to video chat if you don't have a camera yourself (yes, we're getting this set up this week).

5. If I can help it, I will not ask Alice if she is ready to leave places anymore.

Mommy: Are you ready to leave the bean Alice?
Alice: Uh, NO!

Mommy: Are you ready to leave the park Alice?
Alice: Uh, NO!

Mommy: Are you ready to get out of the water now Alice?
Alice: Uh, NO!

Mommy: Are you ready to leave Grandma and Grandpa's house Alice?
Alice: Uh, NO (insert crying fit HERE)!

6. Alice is practicing for her teenage years. Her new favorite thing is the tongue kiss. She thinks it's hysterical. Me, not so much. :)

7. I'm on the 4th Harry Potter book. I'm hoping they'll release the paperback version of book 7 here in the states by the time I get to it.

8. Should be an interesting weekend. Friday we're off to Matt's Aunt and Uncle's house for the annual Tug Fest. I've never watched the actual tug, but good times are always had by all, and they have the best fireworks I've ever seen. Next year, Dad.

9. We unexpectedly went over to my BIL's house tonight to help him eat frozen hamburgers that were defrosting. He's one of a few here in Aurora without power due to last night's storm, and it looks like it's going to be that way for a few days.

10. I'm going to have to start drafting these during the week. I always get to 10 and get stuck.

Alice in Chicago

2008-08-04T19:55:00.003-05:00

Alice finally got a taste of Chicago this weekend. My MIL thought we should take her on the train down to see the bean and everything else Millennium Park had to offer. It turned out to be a fabulous idea and the weather was wonderful! Here are some snippets of the day.

I think Alice could have spent all day looking at herself in the bean.
It could have used a good wash though, it was pretty nasty.
I bet if we had a rag she would have happily polished the lower two feet of it.

"Woah!"
Did I mention she enjoyed the bean?

THE bean.

I can see why my ILs come here to spend the day walking and relaxing.
It's quite beautiful (and a lot different than the last time I saw it in the dead of winter).

Of course we had to stop off at the kiddy park and play on the slides.
And as usual Alice found a friend who made her giggle so very hard.

She wasn't too sure about the fountain at first.
I'm still not too sure about it, it smelled like fish.
Next time Matt gets to hold her hand and I get to take the pictures. :)

Photo Friday

2008-08-01T22:25:00.003-05:00

This one isn't from this week, but I know I forgot to share this one in April. Obviously Alice was imitating Mommy when allergies were kicking her butt. On a side note, we're going to millennium park tomorrow on a "choo choo" with my mother and father in law. Should be fun times as it will be my first time going downtown with my camera.

For the Record

2008-07-31T05:00:00.003-05:00

Alice was cute as a newborn as evidenced by the montage below.

Care to retract your statement, James? :)
Let the record show that, yes, Kaylee was also a cute newborn.*

*Just not as cute as Alice, of course. :)

(She's) A Big Kid Now!

2008-07-30T20:43:00.002-05:00

For the first time ever, Alice went poop on the potty! We're a long way from being done with diapers, but at least we're heading in that direction!

Ten on Tuesday

2008-07-29T16:28:00.005-05:00

1. Alice all of a sudden is deathly afraid of the vacuum cleaner. It's quite amusing actually to see her get all excited by it until it comes towards her.

2. The storage unit looks more like an aisle at Babies R Us. Can you tell I'm sentimental lately?

3. Crock pots are fabulous! I'm on a kick right now and I can't get over how good this dish we had last week was. And it's pretty darn good for you too!

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - FROZEN
1 c Salsa
1/2 can cream of mushroom soup - low fat
1/2 bag reduced sodium taco seasoning
1/3 c water
dollop of low fat sour cream

Add chicken to a cold pot and sprinkle with taco seasoning. Pour salsa, soup, and water on top. Cook on low for 8 hours (or high for 4-5). Remove chicken from sauce and mix in the sour cream. Return the chicken to the sauce and serve over rice.

OMG was this amazing! The chicken came out SO tender and juicy that I'm going to do pulled chicken BBQ for sandwiches this week, and at some point I'm going to attempt to do Mom's cream chicken in the crock pot too. MMMM.

4. She has a new favorite book this week, "The Monster At the End of This Book". The kid's got great taste. She's been carrying it with her everywhere and I must get her "reading" it on video.

5. Alice has spiders living in her bed, or at least that's what my MIL thinks. She has five suspicious bumps on her leg that we have been watching very closely. My MIL thinks that since no one had been using the twin bed until recently little critters have set up shop and gorged on baby flesh while we were sleeping. Hopefully the Lysol and bug spray in the room will take care of that.

6. We have to watch Alice carefully around trashcans now. I won't go into detail as I know Matt will start dry heaving just reading this. Of course Matt dry heaves at just about anything.

7. Matt was finally able to pass down a prized possession of his this week, a rocking horse his godparents made for him when he was little. And thanks to Uncle Fred who fixed it up she can actually ride it now.

8. Matt is doing really good on the diet. Me, not so much.

9. Alice is $20 richer than we thought she was. I've kept every card we've received since Alice was born and this week I thought it was time I went through and weeded them out. Good thing I actually read them all because I found a $20 bill in one!

10. Rach would be proud, I'm finally reading the Harry Potter books. I'm almost done with book 1 and I have 2 and 3 ready to go after that.

I hope all is well with the rest of you!

It's All Too Much For One Week

2008-07-25T22:43:00.003-05:00

First it was the sleeping in a twin bed (which by the way is going very smoothly), then it was the eating like a big girl, then it was the packing up of old baby clothes/items for a date with the storage unit. And now the crib has been taken down, ready to be used again when the next baby comes along. Man that room looks SO bare with out it. The only proof that a baby was ever here are the pictures we have and the memories of my little girl when she could fit in the crook of my arm.

You've grown up so fast, little one.

My Next Post

2008-07-23T12:51:00.003-05:00

And it's not even a month later! Shocking, I know. I'm going to attempt to keep up with things if for no one else than for a certain brother of mine who is half way around the world (sorry guys, it took James leaving for India to get my butt in gear).

I just wanted to let you all know she slept all night in the regular bed! No guarders, no safety floor mattress, NADA! I'm so incredibly proud of her. She did wake up this morning a bit disoriented and scared, but that will take time to get used to. I'm so excited to think that the crib will be going into storage very soon!

Hopefully she continues to go well, and maybe I'll be able to sneak a pic of her sleeping like a big girl soon.

Ten on Tuesday

2008-07-22T23:05:00.002-05:00

Maggie had the idea that Mike and I should start posting ten things that happened this week on Tuesdays for fun. Not sure I can keep this up, but I'm going to try.

-Alice is a little fishy! Aside from when she was a baby and the lake, Alice had never really been in the water and this week so far she's played in Grandma's pool and the pool across the street from us. She did well with keeping her head out of the water while we weren't holding on to her (she had on water wings), kicking, and sticking her face in the water.

-Alice now knows all of her letters by sight and can name them. We haven't yet worked on getting them in order though. In fact I've hardly worked on them with her at all. I swear she knows all her letters because she watches Sesame Street nearly every day (hey, I told you before this kid has one vice, Sesame Street). I thought letters would be too hard for her at this age, but one day she just started bringing blocks to me and saying a letter and wouldn't you know it 90% of the time she was right.

-Alice's new favorite book is one called "Counting Kisses" by Karen Katz. She runs and grabs the book exclaiming "baby! baby!" She'll sit and have me read it and on every page she has to kiss the baby just like in the book.

-I was inspired by Kaylee's independence when it comes to eating and decided to let Alice try eating the more messier items with a utensil. She's doing incredibly well and now loves to feed herself yogurt, chili, and cottage cheese.

-She's officially off the paci! She hasn't really used one in a while, but last week when she was sick I gave in a few times and let her have it at nap time. They are now safely stored away in case of emergency, but I'd be willing to be they are gone for good.

-Matt and I realized this week that we need to nip the swearing in the bud. She's repeated a few choice words here and there so it's definitely time to clean things up a bit.

-It really hasn't hit me yet that James really is a world away.

-The highchair is officially retired as well. After seeing how well she eats at the table on vacation, we decided it was time to put the chair away and opt to eat at the table together.

-I think of James every time we open that Richard Scarry word book as the title page has a giant moose on it. The other day Alice started putting her hands to her head like uncle James does every time he says moose. I know he'd be proud (got to get that on video)!

-I saved the best for last, as of tonight Alice is in a regular bed! I can hardly believe it actually. It wasn't planned, but when I was getting her ready for bed she kept mentioning that the crib was a bed and that the guest bed was a bed. So for the heck of it I asked her if she wanted to sleep in the big bed and her eyes lit up and she said yes. We had to ask Daddy to make sure he was ok with the idea, and of course he couldn't even fathom that she might be ready for it at 21 months. I knew I'd be the one up with her anyway, so we gave it a go. So far the only peep I've heard from her was when I tried to sneak in and take a pic. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!

Best Vacation EVER - Part III

2008-07-21T13:17:00.000-05:00

I almost forgot my favorite picture of the whole lot.
This one is getting enlarged and put on our bedroom wall for sure!

Best Vacation EVER - Part II

2008-07-21T12:36:00.004-05:00

One of the best parts about vacation was just siting around and enjoying each other's company. Although this picture brings to mind the word boredom than family bonding.

Of course the girls's favorite pastime was cleaning the house. I can't say that Alice gets that trait from me and I'm willing to bet that Kaylee doesn't get that from Mike either. Us Rice kids have never been known for our tidiness.

They also both enjoyed cooking with Grandma, this is something I will gladly lay claim to (although I apparently don't know how to cook for 11 people).

Kaylee enjoying her word book that I'm sure she got from the same relative Alice got hers from. I JUST this week discovered that we have the same one (gah, with all the books we have it got lost). It can't be a coincidence, and I'm sorry for my poor memory to whomever got it for Alice.

I'm SO unbelievably glad that Maggie was able to come. I think we all enjoyed having her around even if she did make me slather lotion on her skin. I didn't want to get the hose again, so I gave in.

Alice is obsessed with facial hair at the moment (no "Becky has a beard" jokes from the peanut gallery, mmkay? :) ) as her favorite book is pat the bunny (and her favorite page is the daddy page). She went from lovingly hugging James, to thoughtfully stroking his beard.

Double Trouble. These girls were definitely up to something.

Awww, look at that family portrait! Tori and Ryan both appear to have a bit of Asian in them, while the Rice boys look like they could be related to Popeye.

Best Vacation EVER - Part I

2008-07-21T11:42:00.002-05:00

You've all read the blog posts about vacation from Mike and Maggie so the slacker that I am is going to be bringing you randomness from our time at the lake house. It truly was the best vacation I've ever taken, and Matt wasn't even there for most of it.

Maybe THAT'S why I loved it so much. ;)

The water was too cold for Ryan, so he spent most of his beach time working on his burn, I mean tan.

He finally grew a pair and jumped in.

Like everyone else, Alice adored the beach. It couldn't have been a more perfect spot!

She enjoyed filling buckets with water and dumping them.

She enjoyed being in the water, so long as we didn't leave her in for long as it was TOO COLD for her little body.

And she even enjoyed sleeping at the beach. Boy was she tuckered this day - it's a rare occasion when Alice falls asleep on someone!

Tori loved the beach a little too much.

As did Rae.

I think James enjoyed the beach, but it was sometimes hard to tell as he often broke away to skip stones and think about all the wonderful people he'd be leaving behind. Or maybe he was just trying to get as far away from Maggie as he possibly could. Maybe SHE'S the reason he left for India. Hmmmmm...

Or maybe he just needed a sunset and a pretty girl to share his time with.

Makes me wish I was back there right now...

More To Come

2008-07-18T15:18:00.002-05:00

Vacation is over, James is gone (and safe), and things are getting back to normal around here. My back had been killing me from sitting in our back seat for so long on our last full day in MI (should have moved the seats up, eh) and once that started to feel better we all came down with a bug. I'm guessing a touch of food poisoning as we never seem to all get sick on the exact same day, but who knows for sure. We're all doing better, although Alice's diapers haven't improved much, her sunny disposition is back though.

She and I were looking through vacation photos yesterday and she would yell out the names of people and get all excited. Every time she'd get to Kaylee though she'd say in a whiny tone "my kaaaaay!" The look on her face was enough to drive me to tears. She misses you, little one - and auntie does too.

More vacation pics to come, and I just had to mention this is one of Mike's. :)

FYI

2008-07-17T01:46:00.004-05:00

I think Matt and I are going to look into getting Skype while James is in India. Matt's Aunt uses it to talk to her kids who live overseas and she used it when they were globe trotting for 10 months a few years back and they have nothing but good things to say about it. Just thought I'd share in case anyone else was interested in calling James cheaply (may be worth it to get James an account too as it is free to call from one Skype user to another).

Hope You're Safe and Sound

2008-07-17T00:30:00.002-05:00

We miss you already.

Yeah, So It's Been Forever

2008-07-04T00:45:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd at least pop in and show a few teaser photos before I update fully as it's way past my bedtime right now. If you're lucky I'll log on again tomorrow and do a big update after we come home from 4th of July festivities. I don't make promises I can't keep though. Anyway, here are a few pics from my most recent trip home to see the fam. Can't wait to see you all in Michigan very soon!!

Alice: 1 Dilly Bar: 0

2008-05-27T21:39:00.002-05:00

A few weekends ago we decided to take advantage of the briefly warm weather, and what goes better with warm weather than a trip to DQ. Needless to say Alice dove right in and ate about 90% of her Dilly Bar all on her own. And yes she ate it wearing only a diaper and sitting on a towel in the middle of my inlaw's living room, and yes she had a bath inanimately afterwards.

And just so that there is proof that my daughter knows how to eat while wearing a bib AND all her clothes here's another pic. :)

Bath Time!

2008-05-11T22:33:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately that's all I can show you of the girls bath together (there weren't any good shots of the two of them together anyway). Just pretend there are pics of the two of them playing nicely, stealing washcloths from one another, and a sopping wet Racheal. :)

Wedding - The Morning After

2008-05-11T22:14:00.005-05:00

Lilly and Aunt Ruth.

Saying bye-bye to Aunt Jessica.

The World's Best Grandma (and the one and only GG).

Kaylee pre messy face.

Alice and Lilly in their matching dresses.

Kaylee definitely wins the messiest eater award -
of course her dad can lay claim to contributing to some of the mess.

Alice loved going to the park with her Aunties.

JJ and Tori decided it had been far too long since they had gone for a swing.

Kay up from her nap.

The knitting circle.

Grandma Cindy with her two little girls.

Wedding Pics - Part I

2008-05-11T20:42:00.005-05:00

I'm pretty much just going to make a few posts with pictures since the wedding isn't so fresh in my mind anymore. That way I can say I actually posted them. :)

You Actually Made It

2008-05-11T12:25:00.002-05:00

How...Totally...Amazing...

Doh, We Can't Forget MAGGIE!!

2008-05-08T23:59:00.003-05:00

She needs her own post anyway she's just that cool...

...cool, yes that's the word I was looking for. ;) Love you Maggie!

Yeah, I know I'm a Slacker

2008-05-08T23:08:00.000-05:00

I guess it's been allergies that have been kicking my butt this whole time. Never had them before in my life and now I get hit with them something awful. Granted I am functioning now, but Lord help me if we ever run out of Claratin and Benadryl. We're heading off to Bloomington tomorrow for James's commencement (not graduation as ISU's website CLEARLY states in their FAQ) - should be fun times as Dad and my Evil Wicked Wart-Nosed Stepmother will be there as well (hehe, LOVE you Cindy!!!). I still can't believe my little bro is graduating college - and I'm trying real hard not to think about him leaving us for the land of curry. He'll love it I'm sure, but dammit I'm going to miss him something awful (mental note - gotta get that web cam)!

I'm sure I'll take some pictures, but you probably won't see them until a month or two later, if you're lucky. For now I'll just post a few from the wedding. Well, these aren't really FROM the wedding, but they are from our trip home FOR the wedding so I guess it counts. Will post more tomorrow before we leave sometime hopefully.

All of these sleepy pics were taken on our last day.
Poor thing was SOOO tuckered out from all the fun.

Oh, and my house is finally clean - well as clean as it ever was anyway.

My Excuse For Being a Bad Housewife

2008-04-25T15:18:00.000-05:00

This is how I've been feeling since Tuesday (ok you'll have imagine I posted a pic of a jackhammer and a merry-go-round too) - and I'm finally starting to feel better and not worse. I thought it was allergies at first, but when none of the antihistamines worked and I started feeling feverish I knew it couldn't be that. Matt is starting to feel cruddy too so it definitely appears to be some sort of bug. Hopefully I'll feel much better just in time for it to knock Matt on his butt. Thanks for taking care of me hon - I'll be sure to return the favor when you get to the point where you don't want to drag your butt out of bed.

Will be posting many wedding pictures in the near future. Maggie will finally make her debut on the blog! :)

Besties Forever

2008-04-23T13:07:00.005-05:00

Almost a year ago they met and it was quite apparent from the beginning
that there was going to be some getting used to one another...

By the end of the trip they were fond of one another,
but glad to have their space back...

In November they didn't want anything to do with one another
except when it meant a little tag teaming Uncle James...

Now that they're older they're becoming friends...

One is a LITTLE bit more crazy about the other though...

Oh I can't wait to watch these little ones grow...

I just know they're going to be besties forever...

Ok Rach, I've Got You Beat

2008-04-21T21:51:00.002-05:00

As usual, I let Alice run around sans diaper for a bit to dry her bum off after a diaper change. She's peed the floor just a few times, but today was different. This time she took a huge dump on the floor. Thankfully Matt decided it was his duty to clean up the doodie.

By the way...miss you guys already.

Ahh, the Gift of Empathy

2008-04-13T12:12:00.004-05:00

Alice and I sat down for our daily Sesame Street time (this kid has one vice - The Street!), we missed it when it was on PBS, but thankfully on demand has about 5 or so episodes to choose from. All was well for about half the program until a crying cow came on (she was hurt b/c she jumped over the moon). As soon as Alice heard that damn cow start sobbing she started sobbing too. I ended up having to fast forward it b/c she was getting so upset - real tears and all. "Mama waaaaa Ma mooooooo waaaaa moo waaaaa" is all she said. Poor thing needed consoling for 5 minutes afterwards.

Well, It Didn't Last Long

2008-04-09T17:42:00.002-05:00

Not that I thought it would or anything. Sunday was a great day weather wise. We actually spent the majority of the day outside at my in-law's house. I never realized just how much this winter has DRAGGED on until we got a taste of spring. Unfortunately it's cold again and I've been sick for the past few days. Oh well, at least it looked just as crappy outside as I felt. I'm praying for 70s for the weekend!!

It's Warm, FINALLY!

2008-04-06T10:35:00.006-05:00

Not for long though I'm sure. Stupid winter - why won't you just go away already?! Anyway, yesterday was the first day we had nice enough weather to head to the park. Alice really enjoyed all that there is to do there, but most of all she LOVES being around other kids. She was VERY fond of a slightly older child named Amy. Alice was so attached in fact that when Amy left Alice sobbed! Soon enough there were more kids though and she was happy as a clam again. I tell you I can't wait until she can do the jungle gym by herself - she'll be on cloud 9! Hopefully the weather man is wrong and we get to keep our measly high 60s.

Did I ever mention I LOVE this camera?? Even on auto this baby takes stellar pictures. LOVE IT!

***EDIT***
I had to add my revised version of this shot. My white balance was horrid for this pic so instead of fixing it I converted it to B&W. I think I like it better this way!

Digging Up a Few More

2008-04-02T15:02:00.000-05:00

I even had these uploaded and everything - I must have just forgot to post. :) Anyway, this was the first time I ever let her feed herself yogurt. It definitely didn't go well!!

Awww...

2008-04-01T14:58:00.005-05:00

I was going through some of my older photos and realized I never shared this one from Thanksgiving. The two of them were tuckered out on the way to Joann and Marty's house and I of course had to take a pic of this great moment between Alice and her Uncle James. Love you!

Inspired by Kaylee

2008-03-28T23:11:00.003-05:00

Surprisingly she doesn't mind the piggy tails at all - and I didn't even have to clip them to her head for her to keep them in.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

2008-03-26T19:56:00.000-05:00

Ahh, finally a holiday that Alice was actually old enough to enjoy! Before church Alice "hunted" for her basket (a Bathje family tradition) and discovered she loves candy corn. Church was like every other Easter mass I've been to, but Alice made it interesting with her many observations of babies, lights, and the people behind us. Matt hit a curb swerving out of the way of an idiot when we were on our way out and blew a massive hole in the front right tire. It must have been a sight to see Matt, Ann, and I in our Sunday best changing a tire - granted Matt did most of the work despite my pleas to let us help.

At my IL's house we were greeted by a HUGE pink bunny rabbit - a gift to Alice from her Auntie Mary - and the smell of lots of yummy food. The day was short (although that could have been the nap Alice and I took before dinner) but it was definitely a holiday to remember.

Alice in her Easter best - genuine Easter bonnet and all. I was very surprised she kept it on all day!

By far Alice's #1 fav thing the Easter Bunny brought for her is her "Nernie". He hasn't left her side since she pulled him out of the basket. This kid is OBSESSED with "The Street".

Alice is also obsessed with babies these days. Grandma sent her home with this tiny one from the 60's.

Meet Frank. Frank has 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds before I donate him to the Goodwill. Just kidding Auntie. :)

And one of my FIL for good measure. This pic sums him up rather nicely.

Weddings and Funerals

2008-03-23T21:43:00.001-05:00

Seems like the only time we see extended family anymore. Such is life I guess. The family and I made a trip to J'ville a few weeks ago for Uncle Joe's funeral. Despite the circumstances it was a nice trip home.

Aunt Ginny and Aunt Rosie adored Alice. I think they are crossing their fingers hoping that we'll be able to make a trip out East this year.
To be honest, so am I.

I don't think Tori enjoyed Alice being home at all. ;)

The Clan, minus a few. It was certainly a full house!

Alice making eyes at Aunt Ginny after she tucked her into her seat.

There is Nothing Cuter Than

2008-03-22T22:10:00.000-05:00

A baby and her book.

Dear Cindy

2008-03-22T13:03:00.003-05:00

If you're wondering why the shipping for Alice's Easter preset was so much, here's the reason why. Hallmark shipped a 13in x 7in x 2 in lunch box in this ridiculously large box - they could have fit 20 of them in there! It was worth it though, thanks for the adorable butterfly lunch box that is currently being used as a laptop (Alice has her own baby laptop courtesy of my MIL) bag. Thank You!

And As Promised...

2008-03-20T15:38:00.000-05:00

Grandpa's House: Part IV

2008-03-20T14:25:00.001-05:00

Sunday was the first GORGEOUS day I'd seen in months; so Tori, Alice, and I decided we'd better go out and enjoy it with a trip to the park. It didn't matter that the ground was SOOO muddy, we had fun anyway. In fact I think we had more fun because of it! Alice throughly enjoyed the swings and the slides, but it wasn't until she found a stick that she was in 7th Heaven. The stick was no match for the mud puddle Tori discovered however. She would have splashed in there all day had I let her (Alice, not Tori although she was having fun too), but I decided it was about time to head home once Alice got curious and licked her hands. Man I can't wait for spring to come - it was SOOO nice being outdoors!!

Grandpa's House: Part III

2008-03-19T11:51:00.001-05:00

Sunday just happened to be the men cook for the women breakfast at church, so of course we actually made it to church for once. I wasn't going to pass up scrambled eggs with chives, croissants, and sausage for a little extra sleep. Plus Tori was coming and I had to see her. Turns out Fr. Kip's granddaughter, Mia was there too, sans her mother. I've been telling Jessica since we had the girls (Mia is just a few days older than Kaylee) that we need to get them together, but our paths never crossed. Well at least I finally got to meet the little one, and Alice got to make a new friend. Man oh man did these kids take to each other instantly. I didn't get a chance to ask Mrs. Radcliffe how the two girls got along in the nursery though - either they fought or Alice just missed her mommy because when she returned just before communion she was huffy like she's be crying. I'm assuming it was the latter since after church they were hugging and kissing again.

BTW, dad, just thought I'd tell you what a great job you did throwing that together at the last minute. Good thing you're retired!

Grandpa's House: Part II 1/2

2008-03-19T11:48:00.000-05:00

Oh, I forgot. Yahtzee is also really damn cute too.

Grandpa's House: Part II

2008-03-19T11:33:00.002-05:00

One thing Alice had plenty of was good food while we were at Grandpa's. Personally I liked the taco pizza from Leo's the best, but I think Alice really enjoyed the apples and mixed veggies (the limas are her favorite, ick). We also found out that Alice has mad stealing skills, several times we caught her in the apples taking a bite here and there then going for another. She even tried swiping a potato once - once. I guess she couldn't get past the dirt taste. No wonder Daddy hates them.

Not only did she hone her thieving skills at Grandpa's, but apparently Grandpa's house is a good place for expanding your vocabulary. I have no idea why, but for some reason her already huge vocabulary increased tenfold while we were there. The cutest phrase she added though has got to be "thank you". I'll add a video later and you'll see what I mean. So now not only do we have the smartest baby on the block, but we have the politest too.

Good thing we don't live near the creepy Today Show baby.

Grandpa's House: Part I

2008-03-19T11:17:00.003-05:00

So a few weeks ago Alice and I decided we needed to make good on our offer to come and stay with Grandpa for a week in hopes of putting a small dent in the huge task of purging and organizing things in the Rice household. One, to prepare for wedding guests; and two, in preparation for the bringing together of the Rice and Carlson households. Needless to say due to *forces beyond my control we didn't get much done. The china cabinet has never looked better, I will say that though.

So how did we spend our week? Mostly hanging out with Grandpa and Uncle Chuck in the mornings, Cindy and Uncle James got us in the evenings. I honestly don't think anyone minded one bit that not much got done, including me. I know everyone enjoyed getting to spend so much time with Alice - we come as a pair so they just had to put up with me. :)

*A Grandpa does need his beauty rest, don't you know?

So How Did Alice Feel About Leaving Gpa's House??

2008-03-11T14:04:00.005-05:00

Angry? Sad? A little bit of both? I'll let you decide.

Sorry about the delay. We've been busy here and we just got a Wii so the time that I normally spend online has been spent "bowling" or "golfing" or playing the mega awesome Star Wars Legos game with Matt. :) Hell I haven't even gone through my photos from that trip yet except to save this one for the web...and that's saying A LOT!