Tuesday, January 30, 2007

WHOA!

Bill Gates I am not...however I finally took the time this morning to figure out how to post video to my blog. Now, dear reader, you can enjoy the wonder that is Isaac in live video format.
Monday nights are "Daddy/Tiny Tiger" nights at casa de Phillips when I gleefully jump up from the supper table and rush off to my bootcamp-style fitness class while the boys do the dishes, play, and then do bath and bedtime. This usually involves a lot of laughing, running, pillow throwing, and general boy antics. Last night as Tobe was hanging up Isaac's towel in the bathroom after bath time, he stepped in a small puddle of water and slightly slipped. He said, "Whoa!", which caused Isaac to laugh (Tobe was holding him at the time) and repeat the word. Apparently this exchange of "Whoas" went on for quite awhile, causing both boys to laugh hysterically. The video is Isaac STILL laughing over the word "Whoa!" a good 15 minutes after the original episode. Enjoy!
(NOTE: This video was taken on our digital camera, thus the grainy appearance)


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Friday, January 26, 2007

Blast Off!


Advertising got the best of us this week. Here at casa de Phillips we sold out to "the man." I was shopping at the mall on Tuesday with my mom when we happened across the Disney store. Wanting to see if they had any Little Einstein items, I quickly peeked inside. Not only do they have Little Einstein paraphernalia, they also have a whole line of Playhouse Disney merchandise. I just could not resist so we came home with Playhouse Disney puzzles, a Higglytown Heros bowl and cup set, and of course Little Einstein PJS (for $4, people! What a bargain!). I am such a sell-out! However, Isaac loves the pajamas and instantly looked down at them the moment, "We are going on a trip on our favorite rocket ship...." begin to play Wednesday morning.





Also on my shopping trip, I came across these adorable matching sweaters from The Childrens Place. I paid less than $4 a sweater (actually I paid nothing because I had a gift card). Won't my children die of embarrassment one day when I pull out the pictures of them in matching brother/sister snowman sweaters and show them to future spouses? I love it! (Yes, the snowman girl sweater is pink....I caved!) Isaac officially turns 18 months old next week which means a trip to the photography studio. As you might recall, Christmas pictures were a disaster and he cried during the whole thing. I thought things would go better this time because I had my mom there as back-up. Nope. The instant Isaac's feet hit the ground in the studio he immediately began crying. The only difference this time is that he can walk really well now and can head for the nearest exit at a brisk pace. Despite the tears, we were able to get some okay shots. I had brought Giraffe along in case we had some spells of weeping (Giraffe usually never leaves the crib and is for sleeping purposes only). This did ease some anxiety, however Isaac felt the need to cram his beloved friend in his mouth and not smile. Priceless. Someone please email me before Easter and remind me that my child currently detests the cheap photo studio before I dress him in knee socks and rompers for a Springtime portrait!



(I was not supposed to be in the pictures--that is why I am sporting a red track suit. The photographer snapped some pictures while I tried to convince Isaac that photography studios were fun and exciting. Obviously, that didn't work)

**************************************


Some new things in Isaac's world include vocabulary that is exploding daily. I was keeping track of what he could say for awhile, but the list has grown significantly just in the past week. My new favorites are that he can recognize the "oval" shape ("o-bal") in a variety of places. All numbers are "nines" and all colors are "purple" ("bur-ple"). Where did he pick up these random things? He has been able to count things for a while by pointing at them and talking jibberish, but now whenever he sees a number he says "nine." My mom thought he was a genius because Isaac held up the number nine from his numbers puzzle and said, "Nine." She then realized that this was the universal word for "number" for him when he held up a three and a two and also said, "nine." We are not quite sure how these random associations have been made, but they crack us up nonetheless.


******************************

The bedding for the nursery was purchased yesterday. Before you call me a hypocrite, I will warn you that it is pink and I love it! I love the simplicity and I also love how the crib bumper is made. I wanted a tall, firm bumper (tall-so I could peer in at the baby without being spotted and firm to ease my anxieties about the baby getting wedged under the folds of the bumper pad)--which is slightly hard to find anymore.



(Disclaimer: I took this picture off the Pottery Barn website. The nursery is still a study at this point. Anyone care to come unload and paint a room?)

I would also like to say that Oprah had two good episodes this week, which is nice considering she has been showing reruns lately. On Tuesday she discussed the Mommy Wars, opening the show with Elizabeth Vargas. Elizabeth Vargas was slated to co-anchor the ABC evening news with Bob Woodruff. As you know, Bob Woodruff was seriously injured in Iraq and had to temporarily give up his position. Elizabeth Vargass became pregnant at the same time with her second child. She eventually decided to step down from the evening news position so she could spend more time with her children (yet still works 12 hour days at 20/20). I have to say that I was not terribly impressed with her nor did I give a standing ovation to what she deems a gracious gift to her children by being more "present." I am not objecting her desire or need to work as well as parent, I just found her thoughts a bit offsetting when she acted like she made this huge decision to give up her parts of her career, yet is still working until 8 or 9pm every night.

Oprah did close with my exact feelings regarding the Mommy Wars by saying that yes women can have it all, but not all at the same time. Thank you! No man can have everything all at the same time either, so why do women even try to come close to this ideal?

Yesterday's Oprah was about 30 something women in America. I have only watched half of this episode so far and have the other half recorded waiting to be finished when I get a spare second. It was an interesting topic and showed a variety of women in different situations despite being in the same age category. The segment that I think was excellently done was the stay-at-home mom of 8 children. Normally when shows do a piece on a SAHM of lots of kids the mom has long hair,mall bangs and is nursing a baby, the little girls are wearing plaid rompers and appear sad and repressed, and the boys are in old clothes. However this mom was dressed nicely, her kids looked great, and everyone came across as normal. Not once did you think this family was breeding children to form their own army as a way to overthrow the government nor did you think they were religious fanatics. They were just regular people with lots of kids and it was obviously working for them. It was an interesting peek into their lives without sensationalizing the details.


Happy Friday!




Sunday, January 21, 2007

Sunday Antics

Nana J is in town which means lots of fun for Isaac and time off for me! Last night I told Isaac he was a fair-weather friend, as it was Nana who he wanted to give him his bath, Nana who he wanted to put him to bed, and Nana who he cried for when the lights went out. He would simply look at me and say, "Bye Bye!" quite energetically. Here a few few photos from church this morning and bath time tonight.









(Can you see the remnants of a tear under his eye in the above picture? This is because I had the nerve to trim his fingernails before I dressed him for services. Usually he is fine with this chore, but my mom walked in while I was trimming away and Isaac immediately turned on the waterworks in hopes of some sympathy from Nana. It's a hard life.)









Just for laughs, here is a picture of Isaac at five days old in the same puppy dog bath towel. Just proves that if you feed and water them, those babies sure can grow!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

A Farewell and a Finally!

Tobe came home Wednesday from picking up our nutritious dinner at Chilis to report that our beloved local playground is under construction and is closed until after Valentines day! Two years ago such news would not have affected me at all, but now I toss and turn at night wondering where we will take Isaac for some fun outdoor time in the next month. I am wrought with anxiety over the fact that they might be taking down Isaac's beloved equipment and replacing it with sub-par play things. The weather is finally going to turn nice at the end of next week and Isaac and I will be left without a park home nearby. We actually have a park in our neighborhood, but it is situated for older kids and not toddler-friendly. Our other close option is a park made for all children--including those in a wheelchair and those walking---but it also is not incredibly toddler friendly as it has large holes in the many ramps that small children can fall through. Such sadness here over our farewell to our beloved park.....

Late yesterday afternoon I noticed that Isaac had drool coming out of both sides of his mouth, which is quite unusual. Sometimes he has the occasional toddler drip from his mouth, but has never been a drooler. He finally let me stick my finger in his mouth during tooth brushing time (before that he clamped down and wouldn't budge his lips---he still hasn't figured out biting as a method of attack yet and I sure don't want to inspire such acts) and felt two new teeth popping in on the top. This is a huge FINALLY for him as he only has six teeth and hasn't gotten a new one in over nine months. I have also been losing sleep over the fact that he would likely get a whole mouth full of teeth right when this baby arrives.

Last night the Phillips' family was lounging in the family room after dinner, reading and enjoying some time together. I came across an advertisement for Little Einsteins (cartoon on Playhouse Disney) in the magazine I was browsing. I ripped out the page and gave it to Isaac, who was immediately mesmerized. He carried that paper around the rest of the evening and was quite hesitant to leave it when bathtime arrived. I had him place it on a table in our living room where we keep some of his books. Isaac would set the paper down, then pick it up, then set it down....quite unsure over whether or not he wanted to leave his beloved Little Einsteins page. I did a quick google search this morning to see what Little Einstein paraphernalia was available and discovered the world's creepiest dolls of Isaac's beloved June, Leo, Quincy, and Annie. Um, won't be ordering those. I guess we will stick with the page torn out of the magazine for now!

Happy Saturday!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Let it Snow!

We woke up this morning to snow, which last night was forcasted only for parts south of here. Tobe set off for work....only to return a while later. It took him over 45 minutes to get less than five miles into his commute when he decided to head back to the casa de Phillips. Isaac enjoyed looking out at the snow (mean mommy didn't let him venture out) and managed to pull out every toy he owned this morning for a bit of playtime. Here are some random tidbits from life at casa de phillips:

1. A friend of mine from work came over for lunch on Monday because school was out due to the MLK holiday. Isaac loves Ms. Paula and lets her carry him and feels right at home beside her (not normal for Isaac and "strangers"). He cried when she left and since Monday has randomly gone to the front door and asked for "more". He wants Ms. Paula to come back. We have opened the door and showed him that she isn't there, but he still misses her greatly.

2. Words are flowing from Isaac's mouth left and right. On Sunday he randomly started saying "juice" and "bowl." He walked around the house repeating the word "bowl" for about five minutes straight and it is now firmly established in his vocabulary. Here is a list of some of the words he currently says: more (sounds like "Mooooooooe"), please ("peasssss"), no-no, go, bye-bye, car, dog, cracker, movie ("davie"), book, spoon ("poon"), bowl ("boooooooowl"), me (ma-eee), yes, bird, color, ball, daddy, mommy (mom-meeee), and can do many animal sounds (cow, owl, snake, duck, chicken). His words have quite the southern drawl, which likely means my southern accent is much stronger than I would like to acknowledge. Seriously the words "more" and "me" have about eight syllables when Isaac says them. Perhaps I should hire a linguist coach so my child does not sound as if he were raised in the woods of the deep south.

3. Need someone to clean your house??? Isaac is for hire! He really has grasped onto the concept of cleaning up toys and keeping things picked up. We started teaching him this a few months ago in the bathtub by having him put all of his bath toys back in the bucket at the end of bath (his reward is getting to pull out the drain when everything is cleaned up--he LOVES to take the drain out and watch the water go "bye-bye."). We quickly followed this lesson up by cleaning up some toys at the end of the night. He can now pick up all of his toys before nap time and at the end of the day(with some assistance) or a mess he has created when asked. He also helped me dust the other day and loved it! Do you think Merry Maids hires workers that are only 18 months old?

4. Isaac's love of books continues to grow. He now takes a book to bed with him when I put him down for his afternoon nap. He selects a book and toddles to his bed, waiting for me to lift him over the side. He reads for about five minutes and then is off to sleep. I usually creep back in and steal the book out of his crib once he is asleep so he won't wake early and start reading instead of sleeping for his full nap time. The other night we did have some tears when he realized that he could not take a book to bed at nighttime, but has come to accept that tragedy and has since moved on.

5. About two weeks ago we finally banned Isaac from the kitchen while I am cooking dinner. When he was a baby he used to happily swing in his swing (aka death trap) in the kitchen while I cooked. He then moved to sitting happily in the bumbo and then on to playing at the fridge or window sill (we have very low windows in our kitchen). Lately though Isaac decided that he needed to be directly under my feet while I cook. Being the observant parents that we are, Tobe and I realized this was not a safe practice for our child and banned him from the kitchen. This was met with great tears and anguish the first few nights (the tears lasting only about five minutes each night but one would have thought we had severed a finger rather than simply telling him "no"). One night he laid with his body in the living room and his little toes barely on the kitchen floor, crying as if I had abandoned him on the side of I-35. However, we are happy to report that we can tell him it is time for me to cook and he happily plays in the living room, stopping occasionally to wave at me from the kitchen door.

6. Saturday as we were confronted with the fact that our house might fall down around us (another post for another day), baby girl decided to shake things up a bit. Due to some very mild issues, the nurse on call put me on bedrest for the remainder of the day. So I laid on the couch while Tobe manned the house. Before this incident, we had emptied the entire contents of our master closet into our bedroom so Tobe's dad could do some repair work. By bedtime, our closet remained empty while our bedroom looked as if it had been hit by a bomb. Tobe cleared the bed for us and we fell into a deep sleep......not before I once again told Tobe the story of the girls who lived on my dorm hall Freshman year whose dorm room looked as if they never unpacked. There were no sheets on the bed---in fact it was often hard to find the bed under the chaos. At night, the girls would simply clear a tiny space on their beds to lay down. It was the most comical and disturbing sight I have ever seen. Someone toilet papered their room in January and they proceeded to take this paper down in May when they moved out.


7. We had a lawn service working on our yard last Thursday in preparation for winter. They were in the back yard mowing and whatnot while Isaac and I ate lunch. I guess he got tired of hearing the roar of the mower and of seeing these strange people walk past the windows because he began yelling, "bye-bye!" to them quite energetically. He became a bit distressed when they did not leave. After finishing up lunch, Isaac and I moved into the living room to play for a bit before naptime. Coincidentally, the yard service men moved to working on the front of our house. As soon as Isaac heard them he toddled over to the front window and began yelling "bye-bye!" at these men. Who needs an attack dog when you have a determined 18 month old?

8. Why has Channel 5 (our NBC station) felt the need to pre-empt EVERY show today to talk about the weather? Yes, it is important to discuss in the morning with all the school closings (By the way, good thing Dallas ISD didn't get defensive over the fact that they were the only district open....oh wait, yes they did!) and traffic issus. But by hour six of their broadcast about "Artic Blast 2007" they really had run dry on how many ways they could discuss this winter weather in Texas.

9. Finally, am I the only American (along with my sweet husband) who does not really "get" American Idol? Sure I love Kelly Clarkson and feel a mothering need to protect poor Clay Aiken, but I just do not get the American Idol craze. Isn't it all scripted to some point? I caught about five minutes last night of this show and witnessed some of the worst singing ever---these people have got to be plants set up by the network to increase ratings. Surely there are not people walking around with as little self-awareness as portrayed by these potential American idol contestants. And have they someone managed to get Jewel to be a judge? I just don't get it.

Hope everyone is staying warm and cozy with all this cold rain, ice, sleet, and snow!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

I should be....

....cleaning out the closet in the master bedroom right now, which happens to be my big "naptime task" for this week (meaning the big thing I attempt to tackle while Isaac sleeps). However that became boring, so here I am posting new pictures on the blog. Enjoy some park pictures and my "bump" picture (note to self: do not wear horizontal stripes in important picture as they are quite that flattering)

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Christmas was over two weeks ago, but who can resist pictures of a 17 month old in striped, footed PJ's??? Here are the Phillips' family Christmas photos. Yes, Tobe was present at every holiday celebration. We often times forget to have him step out from behind the camera to actually be in a picture. I am going to have to photoshop his face into some of these pictures so that Isaac doesn't think his father was not around at Christmas!


Christmas Morning....and Santa brought Band-Aids!
I love this picture because I think Isaac looks like my baby pictures (for once!)
"Codors???"
Another Little People Item to add to our growing collection
Christmas in Lubbock
(Again Little People.....Isaac felt the need to sit right in the middle of this train set while playing with it. He does the same thing with this new car mat he has---not sure why as it seems to make playing with such toys ten times more difficult)










Christmas with Tobe's Parents

Isaac loves this old man who sings Christmas carols, but was a little apprehensive about pushing the "ON" button himself
This picture makes me laugh so hard everytime I see it. This is a set of glasses from a Doctor's kit. Hilarious. This will definately be in the wedding slide show one day.

Paging Dr. Phillips.....

Isaac immediately put the stethoscope around his neck, just like his Pop-Pop. Who cares if this is likely a strangulation hazard? It is just plain cute.

Although there are a lot more Christmas pictures besides these, I feel like all seven of you readers get the basic idea of our Christmas celebrations and there is no need to bore you with thirty pictures of Isaac smiling. His new trick this week is to carry random things all over the house and then leave such items in odd places. For example, this morning while he was "resting" in his bed (he is in the process of dropping the morning nap--which could be a whole post itself) I found a concert ticket stub in the kitchen, a magnet on the hope chest in my bedroom, the telephone in the hall, and a woooden spoon on the coffee table. Although it appears that my child wonders aimlessly through the house unsupervised, that isn't the case. However, he still manages to toddle around with random items and deposit them in strange places. Tobe also noticed last night that Isaac has a passion for stuffing toys under the couch. Funny boy.

Baby girl had her 22 week check-up yesterday. Everything looks good. Dr. A. was happy with the sonogram, yet eager to find out the gender because the sonogram tech had not placed that picture in my file. Baby is measuring right at week 22, which is exactly how Isaac was (aren't our children obedient?). I asked Dr. A. about the pressure and pains I have been feeling a lot over the past few days. She said it is a combo of round ligament pain, the baby being breech right now, and the fact that everything starts to hurt sooner with each pregnancy. Tonight I feel as if the baby is pushing on my pelvic bones with both of her feet---lovely thought, huh? We did get to hear the heartbeat, which is always so exciting. Although I was a bit taken back by the numbers on the scale, Dr. A. was happy that I had finally gained some weight (she obviously has not seen me without excess clothes on, nor know that the long-abandoned size 2 Gap pants in my closet laugh at me everytime I approach them). I obviously want this baby to be healthy, but I know what number I do not want that scale to pass in the next 18 weeks. I am sporting a baby bump these days and will soon have to pull out the dreaded container of maternity clothes (Although I have found great use out of some Ann Taylor Loft tunics---thanks, Kelli!). I had Tobe take a picture yesterday and I will post it tomorrow (it is still on the camera, which happens to be allllllllllll the way in the living room).

Isaac and I went and visited a friend this morning who just had a baby on Sunday. He did really well and didn't fuss at all when I held the baby. He didn't really care to look at the baby, but had no problems sharing his mom's arms with sweet baby Ian. Isaac did however get a bit distressed when the nurses came in to measure my friend's blood pressure and take her temperature. I believe once April arrives we will be making weekly field trips to our local hospital so that it isn't quite so unfamiliar to Isaac. The sweet boy was so tired at the hospital that he kept saying "bye-bye" so we would leave. This one nap thing is hard on him some days. We went straight home, ate a quick lunch, and then I put him down at 12:30. He actually was falling asleep while I changed his diaper before naptime. Poor baby.

Speaking of sleep, the witching hour is quickly approaching and this tired mama needs to get herself, her unborn child, and her sleepy husband to bed (Isaac has been asleep for over two hours now). Good night!

(AAARGH!!! Spellcheck is not working for some reason. This is DEADLY to me as I am the worst speller EVER--I personally blame it on the fact that I was taught whole-language in school rather than phonics. Anyway, Mom, don't call and tell me how many words I spelled incorrectly. Just read this post with a lot of patience!)

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

A Girl's Gotta Have a Dress....

Today I purchased our first official outfit for this baby girl we are set to meet in May (she did already get quite a few things at Christmas from frantic Nanas who went out shopping for her at the last minute). Isaac and I headed out to our local mall to walk and to return a Christmas present. Our return lead us to the Carters outlet, where I spied "the dress." "The Dress" is a lovely blue number--complete with bloomers---that I had purchased back in the summer for a friend's newborn baby girl. I "ooh-ed and ah-ed" over this dress to Tobe as I carefully wrapped it and sent it to our friend, secretly wishing to stash it away if we one day had a baby girl. I love this dress, which can be a rare thing because I have quite the love/hate relationship with apparel. Here is the deal with me and clothes: 1. I am very picky 2. I am cheap 3.I hate most affordable children's clothing. Long-time readers have heard me ramble on and on about my inability to find cute clothes for Isaac that do not involve screen-printing, flashing lights, hoodlum-type qualities, and are affordable (I often am quite satisfied with things I find in boutiques until I read the price tag that says $72.99 for a romper--YIKES!). However, I have come to find suitable clothes for Isaac that don't break the bank with each purchase.

Today, as I spied "the dress" that I had coveted back in the summer, I quickly snatched it up for baby girl. I already know what my problem areas are going to be with this second child and clothing: 1. I am not a lover of pink (it's a redhead thing) 2. I am not a lover of excessive floral designs 3.Affordable clothing chains feel the need to use the same designs for little girls as they do for 21 year olds (UGH!!!) and 4. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE smocked dresses (again, the $72.99 price tag).

Clothing problems aside, I now have a beautiful blue dress for this baby to wear next fall. Oh....and I also purchased the coordinating romper with peter-pan collar and sleep-n-play. However, I resisted the matching blanket and sweater..........for now.