The Easter Bunny Lives!

Although Easter is over a month away and I am not quite sure how bunnies and Jesus are tied together, the Easter Bunny has come to reside in our backyard. Our neighbors across the street have a pet bunny who apparently does not have the world's most secure cage. Every morning he hops into our backyard around 8:30am (seriously, same time every day) and hangs out by a tree for most of the day. This has made the world a much happier place for Isaac. He loves the bunny and will go to the window and talk to him. This morning he immediately went to the window and said "Peas, bunny, peas, peas..." until I opened the blinds to see if the bunny was there (however, it was not 8:30am yet so the bunny hadn't hopped on over for a visit). He tells the Bunny "Hi" every time he passes the window and "bye" when we head out the door. At nap time, he tells the bunny "night-night". Too sweet. We haven't attempted to actually approach the bunny without the safety of our window to protect us until I am sure that he doesn't bite and is disease-free. We don't really know the neighbors that own this bunny (aside from the fact that the daughter one time backed her car up into Tobe's old car) so I haven't had a chance to have the "Is your pet a carrier of odd diseases that will harm my child?" conversation with them yet. (You can see the bunny in the background of the above pictures)

In other news, here are some happenings at casa de Phillips:

**Isaac has gotten/is getting SEVEN teeth in the past three weeks. SEVEN, people! He only had six teeth at the beginning of February and has now added seven teeth to the mix. Four of those are molars, two are on the bottom, and one is on the top side. This has created some sleeping issues and some grouchy issues, but I do keep casa de Phillips stocked up on the Infant Motrin for times like these. I call his new teeth "Chompers" and you can say, "Show me your chompers." and Isaac will point to his back molars proudly.

**New words this week that have been added to the vocabulary: Library, lion, mouse, and attic. Isaac is really starting to participate when we try to get him to repeat words, which is a lot of fun. Also he is putting more words together to make short sentences. He says a word that sounds like "Ernie" which we aren't sure what it means. Usually he says it when discussing "MoMo" (Elmo) and I think he is referring to Big Bird and not the character Ernie. He says it quite adamantly sometimes and I just have to nod and smile.

**Last week Isaac and I made a quick and short visit to Searcy to see our new niece Savannah Grace and to visit the grandparents and great-grandparents before I can no longer travel. My mom and I decided that Isaac will need a 12 Step program to get over his addiction to watching Elmo movies in her van. Unlike us, my parents have a DVD player in their car and of course allow Isaac to watch Elmo anytime he is in the carseat. This lead to him wanting to always go "bye-bye" simply so he could watch television in the car. He would go to the door and say, "Bye-bye, movie, Elmo, peas, Nanny (his name for my mom that he devised all on his own)."

**As we welcomed the age of 18 months old, we also welcomed temper tantrums into our house. We don't see them often and they last all of 20 seconds, but boy can they be dramatic. Isaac will fall to the ground and let out a fake cry at times when told "no." Little does he know that his mother has seen all forms of temper tantrums (some that lasted for hours and days) in her former job and it doesn't phase me in the least. I simply ignore him and he gets up and is then his normal perky self. He also is trying out a whiny voice when tired, to which I reply, "Can you use nice words?" and he so sweetly says "Peas (which means please, by the way)..." Too sweet, even though the word "please" is generally out of context in these situations. However, it looks like we are taking a new turn in parenting as we make the switch from baby issues to kid issues. Fun times indeed. I have an entire box of tricks that likely won't work on my children, but I am up for the challenge nonetheless.....

**I hit week 30 of this pregnancy on Sunday. 30!!!! This pregnancy is going a bit too fast and I hope is slows down some in these final ten weeks. Although this baby girl has some things to wear, she currently has nowhere to sleep. I keep reminding myself that I didn't start Isaac's nursery until around this point in my pregnancy and he had a place to lay his head when he came home from the hospital. We are hitting Babies R Us this weekend with a gift card Evelyn got for Christmas to stock up on some needed things during their Spring Sale--perhaps that will inspire us to get things in motion for this baby!

**Isaac ate---and liked---pickles tonight at supper. Although he has a good appetite, he is cautious about trying new foods. However, he wanted a pickle from the jar (we had hamburgers--creative, huh?) on the table. We figured he would spit it out, but he ate it and asked for more. He still has a corn obsession and requests this yellow veggie quite often (typically for breakfast with a waffle--which I refuse to do!). We have to limit his corn intake because it makes diaper changes quite interesting.

**The whole controversy surrounding Al Gore and his personal energy output is really starting to annoy me. Yes, he has conducted a vast amount of research on global warming and was fortunate enough to have someone turn a simple slideshow into an Academy Award winning documentary. He is bringing an important message to the people (one that is generally ignored by other political leaders who shall remain nameless). Yes, he lives in a large mansion and isn't perfect. Who is? At least he is doing something, which is likely more than the commentators on Fox News who feel the need to devote hours of their programming to discussing Al's energy bill (by the way, is one's home's energy consumption public record?). I didn't happen to catch anyone discussing how inconsistent it is that Oprah has several multi-million dollar residences across the country and then sounds her own horn about the school she recently opened in South Africa. No one discusses that despite the fact that Bono does incredible work to bring education and resolution to the world AIDS crisis, he still lives a very "rock and roll" lifestyle, complete with private jets, $100+ concert admissions, and large homes. Can't people just be happy with the fact that someone is attempting to make a difference in spite of their human flaws?

**Here are some more pictures of Isaac---enjoying a cracker at the park and playing with his new truck I bought for ONE DOLLAR at a consignment sale. Happy Thursday!

PICTURES!!!

Creative title, huh?

Here are some recent snapshots of our favorite 18 month old. Enjoy!

Carefully lining up all of his cars on the piano

(Tobe and I love these cars from Playskool! They are soft and easy for little hands to maneuver. We have quite the collection here at casa de Phillips)
Valentine's Day

A new "trick" is to get a book and stand at the fireplace and read aloud to Mommy and Daddy--this is hysterical! I think we might hit the next open mike night at our local Starbucks.....
Ready for Church
(where he stayed in the nursery the entire time by himself with minimal tears--however as soon as I arrived to pick him up the immediate waterworks started. He came home saying the word "cookie." Great.)

Alive!

In case you were beginning to wonder about us here at casa de Phillips, we are alive and slowly emerging from the depths of the stomach flu. I am almost 99.3% sure that Isaac has fully recovered from this horrible bug. It was quite the long week last week with throw-up (only once thankfully), high fevers, messy diapers, and countless episodes of Baby Einstein. I believe that I changed and washed Isaac's crib sheets and mattress pad five times last week due to various sick-related incidents in his bed. The poor boy didn't really eat an actual meal from Monday night until Saturday night--we are estimating that he lost about two pounds last week (estimate based on the fact that we felt like he had gained weight since his 15 month well-baby visit where he weighed 22 pounds and when we went for his 18 month appointment on Friday he was still at 22 pounds). However, his happy disposition has returned for the most part and his energy levels are up. Now we are having to work on him getting over the notion that a movie needs to be running all hours of the day on the television....

Despite the illness, Isaac has had some funny antics to share. Sunday I was unloading groceries and Isaac toddles into the kitchen. The pantry doors were open and he took that opportunity to seize a canister of bread crumbs. He took the canister, closed the pantry doors, flashed me a huge smile, and said "taint tou" (thank you) as he quickly hurried away to the living room with his prize. He was none too happy when he was made to put the canister back into the pantry.

At one point this weekend I asked Isaac if he would like a graham cracker (we are trying to get him to eat anything at anytime of the day to gain some weight back). He replied "No." then looked quite thoughtful and said, "Corn?" Yes, the child wanted corn as a snack. Do you think he will be the only kid in elementary school who pulls out a ziploc bag of corn during snack break of the TAKS test?

Baby Girl is growing and looking good. I promise to post a shot soon of my ever-growing belly--it isn't that pretty, people. Isaac just seemed to have noticed it this past week and has used it as a pillow and also pats it from time to time. I wonder if he is questioning why Mommy is starting to look so funny. Last week was the dreaded glucose test, which I passed this time (I did not pass with Isaac and was forced to take the 3 hour test--which I did pass). Yippee! However, the doctor did call today to tell me I am anemic and to start iron supplements. Not a big deal--however I have heard that if you take too much iron during pregnancy that your baby's teeth will come in black. I am going to assume that is an old wives tale, along with the notion that urinating on comet will indicate the gender of your child (a teacher at my old school really wanted me to do this one day swearing that it was true....um, that's okay. I will wait for the sonogram.)

Hope everyone is staying healthy and warm as we experience another cold snap. Our new and improved park is set to open this week and I am hoping for a slight ray of sunshine so that we can test out all the new equipment!

Happy Early Valentines Day!

Oh yeah....

.....my child turned 18 months old on Saturday. 18 months old is a pretty big milestone in toddler-world and I should perhaps blog about 18 funny things Isaac is doing right now or 18 of his all-time favorite things in the whole wide world............

However, he is sick and despite the fact that it is only 8:30pm, I am contemplating going to bed right now, which means sentimental blogging will have to wait.

I entered Isaac's room to the all--too familiar smell of his throw-up. This child seriously throws-up once every three months. I should put it on my calender as a reminder. He has run a fever almost all day, with the exception of a good hour and 1/2 where he had enough energy to drag out all toys, my entire line of ProActive solution (just found some on the desk in the study), all of his "cooking" supplies, and a package of Big Red gum before he crashed with fever again. Poor baby. I have literally held him the majority of the day, which is complicated task with my big belly, small bladder, and insatiable thirst. However, I have caught up on my daytime television and have watched Baby Einstein Baby Noah two times, Baby Einstein World Animals three times, and Baby Einstein Baby McDonald once. I also caught an unfortunate episode of The Doodlebops as well but am attempting to block that from my memory. Tobe came home to Isaac and me on the couch, with Isaac's head on my belly and his long legs sprawled out over the couch pillows. He figured out today that it makes for a comfy pillow. We are hoping he is able to sleep through the night, despite the fact that he has only had 8oz of Pedilyte, 3 crackers, a handful of blueberries, and one container of applesauce to eat for the day.

In lieu of talk of his first 18 months, I will simply post some pictures and call it a night.

Isaac and his friend Noah Read, who came to visit the other night

Happy Birthday, Al!

Almost Twelve years ago (I am horrified to even type such a large number.........12, really?) I was standing in the middle of the ACU Campus Center with my mom searching for my potluck roommate for Freshman year. I quickly spotted a girl wearing an identical outfit to mine standing with her mother and I realized that this was the mysterious Alison who was my assigned roommate. That potluck roomate ended up being my roomie for all four years of college and I am sure one day we will convince the husbands to move into the same retirement community so we can once again be reuninted as roomies. She has seen me through finals, pledging, stress, joy, grief, a wedding, the birth of my first child (she brought me Jason's Deli to eat the moment I popped that baby out), and the trials of motherhood. Yesterday was her 30th birthday. In honor of Alison and of the four years that we lived together, I feel the need to reflect back on her four birthday celebrations in college.



Freshman Year: Living in West Texas meant unpredictable weather and during our Freshman year a slight snow storm hit the weekend of Alison's birthday, preventing her from returning home to her parents to celebrate. Feeling the need to cheer up Alison, I decided that we (myself and some fellow Gardner Hall residents) were going to take Alison out for dinner, ice or no ice. The five of us loaded up in my Honda Accord, somehow searing the floorboard carpet with Alison's electric ice scraper in the process, and headed out to Long John Silvers. LJS!!! For some reason that neither Alison nor I can remember, she chose to eat at Long John Silvers for her nineteenth birthday. For those ACU readers, remember when there was a Long John Silver's close to campus (we think on Ambler)? It closed shortly after this birthday celebration.



Sophomore Year: By this time we were in club, which meant Sing Song (didn't attend a private Church of Christ school and have no idea as to what I am refering to here? I guess google it because it is too complicated and such a weird entity to attempt to explain.) and extended practice sessions were always going on during Alison's birthday. This did not hender any birthday celebrations. Leigh Ann had entered the picture by this point (future 1017 roomie) and we decided to throw Alison a suprise party. Alison was already dating Greg at this time, so he helped us with the planning. For some reason we thought it would be a great idea to invite about 30+ people to this party that was being held in Alison and my efficency apartment at University Park (approx 400 sq feet). This is when the infamous boob cake made its first appearance (a McKay's Bakery special.....oh how I miss McKays). The pictures from this party are hilarious because some random people ended up coming to the party and at one point we were on the radio station (103.7 and Trace Michaels). Oh yeah, we also had shoe polished Alison's car the night before....um, that didn't go over too well. Sorry about that, Al!



Junior Year: Again, Leigh Ann and I felt the need to throw a suprise party for Alison. This time we became much more creative and mailed out fliers with her picture on it inviting everyone to her party at 1017 Washington Blvd. Knowing that she was going to be absent from chapel the day the flyers went out, Leigh Ann and I giggled constantly as we watched people open their bright green invites with Alison's face printed on it. I don't recall as many details from this party, likely because it was Sing Song time and my Junior year I took about 372 hours both sememsters, but fun was had by all. I do remember that Tobe brough Alison a mop (our "family" had grown quite a bit by this time and our house was often full of fun people--how did we even manage to graduate with high honors, girls?) because they called each other "sop" at the time. Fun times.



Senior Year: This was the best surprise party ever, because we had it on a random Sunday night WEEKS after Alison's real birthday. It took Alison a good ten minutes after entering the party to even register it was her birthday party. I believe one of the main reasons we planned this party was for me to apologize for busting Alison's lip the weekend during a Sing Song celebration (that Minnie Mouse costume will never be the same).



Saturday Night 2007: This year I was only a participant in the suprise party and not the facilitator. There were no lime green invitations nor did anyone attempt to decorate Alison's car with balloons and streamers. Refreshments were not served on an octagon-shaped table from the 80's and no one had to walk the plank. Rather, six couples dined in a refined manner at PF Changs in downtown Fort Worth. Alison was quite shocked to see us all there waiting to celebrate her 30th year, although I think she was slightly disappointed to see the Great Wall of Chocolate cake and not the boob cake when it came time to blow out the candles.



Happy Birthday, Alison!

(The blogger tool bar is not working--which means Spell Check is not working! Aargh! Please ignore my feeble atttempts at correct spelling!)