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)

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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.

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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 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!

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!

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!

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)

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!)

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.

Holiday Hits and Misses

We are home (and have been for a few days....it just has taken me awhile to clear a track to the computer through all of the presents, Christmas do-dads, and discarded boxes)! Here are some Hits and Misses from our holidays:

1. Out of four flights, Isaac only melted-down on the final five minutes of the very last flight. Why does five minutes of your baby crying bloody-murder feel like five hours? Besides that tiny episode of tears, Isaac was a perfect traveler....even on the day we had to get him up at 4:15am to catch a flight. (Near Miss)

2.The two trauma-provoking toys of Christmas 2006 are a stuffed giraffe backpack (which I love) and the Fisher Price Learning Puppy. Isaac cowers in fear at the sight of both toys......we really aren't sure why. Yes, the learning Puppy sings songs in a strange voice which could explain some hesitancy, but the giraffe backpack simply sits there harmlessly waiting to be loved. Oh well. He was afraid of a train he got for his birthday for about three months and now he loves it. (Miss...but sure to be a hit soon)

3. Our crawler is officially a walker. Yeah! The walking is going great and we are so glad this child will not one day crawl into kindergarten. His new thing is to come up to me and either grab my finger or open and shut his hand rapidly until I place my finger inside of his hand so that he can lead me somewhere important. He still reverts to crawling at times, but we can remind him to walk somewhere and he will. (BIG Hit!)

4.By our fifth Christmas celebration, Isaac finally understood the concept of unwrapping gifts. This lack of desire for tearing paper off of packages really worked to our advantage this holiday season....not once did Isaac bother the Christmas tree or presents stashed underneath. (Hit)

5.We can now open a Fisher Price Little People Museum in our home. After Isaac opened all of his Christmas presents, we can set up our own Little People town for hours of enjoyment. I don't know who is more excited....Isaac or me! (Hit)

6. The crud. Isaac's nose started running on Wednesday night and is getting ickier by the day. Currently he is hacking up a lung while he naps next door in the nursery. It hasn't seemed to slow him down and we keep up the medicine at regular intervals. We hope to avoid anything major this time (Potential miss....stay tuned!)

7. Sleeping. Isaac did great sleeping on all of our travels. When he was quite small we put him on a very good and consistent schedule for eating and sleeping and have stuck with it. This has turned someone who was not a good sleeper as a newborn into an excellent sleeper by month four of life. The boy giggles when you put him to bed out of sheer joy. A few weeks before we set out on our holiday travels I had Isaac practice resting on my chest (with blankie and giraffe) before I would place him into bed. Sometimes he would even fall asleep this way. I did this so that if he wasn't sleeping well while traveling (and for one leg of a flight when we needed him to nap) I could get him to go to sleep with a bit of help. The plan worked and came in quite handy in the middle of one night when he could not get comfortable and was a bit distraught. He and I ended up sharing a bed and he slept peacefully the rest of the night with his face inches from mine (I did not sleep peacefully in fear that I would smush him in the middle of the night or mistake him for an extra pillow). We don't cosleep here at casa de Phillips so this was a rare treat for him (Tobe takes his life in his hands each night while sharing a bed with me---i am a horrible sleeper---so I think CPS would be called out if we ever let young children share our bed). (Hit)

8. As always, Tobe managed to find creative and thoughtful Christmas presents for me despite the fact that I could not think of one thing I wanted for Christmas. Two of these presents came from James Avery...yippee! (Big, Big HIT!)

9. The biggest HIT of our Christmas season is that on December 22 we found out that Phillips' baby number 2 is a GIRL!!! Our ever-thoughtful OBGYN rescheduled our sonogram for before Christmas rather than the originally planned after-Christmas date so that we could know what this baby is in time for the holiday season. We are thrilled!!!!! Although I have not officially discussed the sonogram with my doctor, everything looks good with this baby and she is growing right on schedule. We are about 99.9% sure of a name.....Evelyn Kathleen. Because no one knew that we had this sonogram scheduled, we gave our parents a Christmas present revealing the gender of our unborn child. It was a pre-packaged present that I picked up at a local boutique which contained a pink onesie reading, "Little Sis + Big Brother =Heart" and a t-shirt that reads "Big Brother + Little Sis = Heart." Cute, huh? Well two of our parents both originally thought we were having twins. Nooooo.... I believe that shirt would read "Three children under the age of two + One stay at home mom = Looney Bin." (MAJOR Hit!)

Hope everyone had a peaceful Christmas and a happy New Year. Christmas pictures to come as soon as we download them from our camera!

“…Baby, All I Want for Christmas
Is You…..”

Happy Holidays!
Tobe, Lynley, Isaac, & baby (May 2007) Phillips

Merry Christmas Eve, blog readers! We are happily enjoying our Christmas season with friends and family (and lots and lots of traveling!). Above is a quite altered version of our Christmas card this year. Again, I thought it would be great to get out the paste and scissors and create our own cards.......and again I realized that this task loses its appeal after I had hole-punched 27 out of 50 cards. Perhaps next year I will learn and order cards online. This year we choose to include the lyrics of that famous Mariah Carey Christmas song, "Baby, All I Want for Christmas is You." Each year we include a verse from a Christmas song and we already have next year's verse picked out! Hopefully I will remember it by then.

Here are some pictures from the past week before we set out on our Christmas travels....

Our Little Elf

We went on a sleigh ride through the snow-covered Forest as a family

Thursday Evening we opened our family gifts to each other so we would not have to lug them around the southern United States. Isaac still doesn't like to unwrap presents and attempted to put the wrapping paper back together when I showed him how to unwrap something. When he saw the contents of his first present (after I half-way unwrapped it for him) he looked up at us in excitement and said, "Codors???" Yep....a new box of crayons for our little boy was his favorite gift so far.

Isaac hugging his new "codors"

Merry Christmas!!!

Jingle All the Way

Yesterday, Isaac had his first official cookie (to our knowledge) and he quickly became an avid fan of Keebler Jingles. This addiction started with a simple brown bag lunch with Santa at our local community center. The event was free and included lunch (if you brought your own---which we did), pictures with Santa (if you brought your own camera--which we did), crafts, and a puppet show. Fun times. I figured this would be an easy (and free) way to get Isaac's picture with Santa (Last year all dreams of precious Santa pictures were crushed when...A. I realized that you must buy expensive portrait packages taken by a teenager to be able to snap your own picture with Santa at our local mall and B. Isaac does not like Santa. Taking these two things into consideration, I have let go of all idealistic Mommy dreams of my precious boy sitting angelically on Santa's lap.).







We headed out to "Lunch with Santa" on Wednesday, arriving a bit early so Isaac could get used to the place before large amounts of children descended on the gym. We ate with some people who take Mommy and Me class with us on Thursdays and then Isaac immediately wanted down and set off to explore. Although his "exploring" involved me chasing after him, I was happy that he felt relaxed and comfortable enough to set out on his own. We made some crafts (okay I made the reindeer ears, but he did color the Christmas card---until he felt the need to take the markers in and out of their bag. His new word this week...."doder" for "color" He loves to have his big crayons and art pad out on the coffee table at all times. This is his first request after his morning milk.). I gave Isaac a sticker and he immediately put it on his shirt. Where did he learn that? The only place that he gets stickers is the doctor's office (which I confiscate and put in his prize chest for a time when he is older and needs a reward system) and the library (which they always put on his hand). However, he wanted that sticker on his shirt and would not let me remove it for the rest of the day. Too cute.







After crafts, it was time to meet Santa. We were second in line and Santa was just a bit grouchy by the time we got to him. He was insisting that someone bring him a fan and never even greeted Isaac. He then acted annoyed because Isaac would not look at the camera. My question is, why sign up to be Santa if you are not going to be jolly about it? This man was obviously a "professional" as his beard was real and he is not an employee of the center. His attitude kindof bummed me out and the pictures are not stunning at all, but in ten years when Isaac is looking at old pictures he can never accuse me of not taking him to see Santa as a small child.







The puppet show is where the cookie addiction actually started. Isaac sat on the mat with the other children, eager to see a good puppet show. All I can say about this production is that it was put on by our local children's librarians and bless their sweet hearts. It was during this time that the plate of Jingle cookies was passed around for the children to enjoy. They are small and I figured Isaac should try one since it is the holidays (I normally don't serve him anything with processed sugar--we do the whole organic thing on juice, yogurt, applesauce, etc...). He loved it. He then wanted more, so I let him have another. He then discovered where the plate with the cookies was kept and crawled right over to help himself to a third serving. This is when I cut him off and the tears began. Fortunately "Lunch with Santa" was winding down, so we said our good-byes and made our exit. Isaac was sad as we left and as we loaded up in the car, but he did catch my eye in the rear view mirror as I was driving home and flash me a big grin. That boy is sweet even when upset about life being unfair. However, we will be avoiding all Jingles at future holiday events and will be sticking to fruit until he gets old enough to figure this whole junk food thing out. Don't even think about buy him a package for Christmas, because they will be returned to the store before he even realizes they are gone.

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Isaac's other big milestone yesterday was that we turned his car seat around to forward-facing. Although the law says you can do this at one year and 20 pounds, it took us a while to get to 20 pounds. I also wanted to make sure his neck was nice and strong before turning him around in case of an accident. Lately he has been attempting to sit up more while rear-facing, so we figured it was time to turn him around so he can see the world as it should be rather than out the back window. I am starting to wonder how I am actually going to get him into the car seat once this belly gets big. That might be an interesting sight....

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I went to the post office the other night after my bootcamp class to mail our Christmas presents (we are flying everywhere again this year, so we must mail our presents). I choose to visit the post office after-hours because I hate the lines and because we have the handy-dandy 24 hour kiosk that allows you to mail packages and buy stamps without ever interacting with an actual human. The two people in front of me in line could not get the kiosk to work for them. I figured I would try since I was already there and had lugged in two big boxes and a shopping bag of Christmas cards. First, the machine told me it was unable to sell me stamps at this time. Fabulous. However, I was able to get mailing labels for my packages. After making twenty decisions about how I wanted the packages mailed, I was granted my official mailing labels. I slapped those things on the boxes and put the first one in the big mail slot, specifically designed for boxes. Well, the box apparently got stuck and the mail slot would not open for me to stick my other package inside. A man waiting in line for the kiosk said that meant the bin was full on the other side. Aaargh! I attempted to dislodge my package, but was met with only failure. Several people in line gave me mean looks as if it were my fault that no more packages would be able to be put through the slot that night. A man in line had been at a neighboring city's post office kiosk--which was broken--and had come to this one in hopes of mailing out Christmas presents. Because the mail slot was now stuck and not working, he planned on going to a 24 hour post office somewhere at the airport. Hope he got those packages mailed. So my plan to avoid long lines at the post office was ruined because I had to return the next day (with the baby) to mail my other package and buy stamps. I have since gone on long tirades about how our postal system is broken to Tobe over the past few days. Poor guy.

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Pictures with Santa

(Notice no one is full of cheer in this photo)

Craft Time

The beloved cookie

Another photo from our Christmas card photo shoot

First offical picture of Isaac and his future sibling together

(Notice how thrilled Isaac is about this picture)

The Next Food Network Star

(Isaac loves the lights over our kitchen table and I had just flipped them on to take this picture--thus the look of wonder as he gazes above)

Friday I decided to start a new holiday tradition of baking Christmas cookies with Isaac. Understanding I was working with the attention span of a 16 month old, I made the dough beforehand. Then after morning naptime on Friday, I pulled out the dough, cookie cutters, rolling pins, and flour. Isaac sat at the table in his super-cool booster seat (looks like one of those camping chairs that collapse--too cool for school!), with snack close at hand, and we got to work. Isaac choose each cookie cutter that I used to cut out the cookies and did a great job of not repeating the same shape (although the poor angel went undetected the majority of the time because it somehow became hidden in Isaac's lap). He watched in awe as I cut the cookies. I then gave him his own dough in which he would roll it out (pat it with the roller) and then proceeded to smash a cookie cutter onto the dough. Adorable. I have great video of this first "cooking" experience. Isaac is at the stage where he can see either Tobe or me do something once and then makes a great attempt at repeating it. About half-way through this cooking extravaganza, Isaac realized that the dough could be eaten and was rather tasty. I let him eat it because it is the holidays and it was homemade so I knew what was in it (I know raw eggs are dangerous--we live on the wild side here at casa de phillips). I eventually had to cut him off because his little body isn't used to ingesting sugar and I was fearful a sugar-high would interfere with afternoon naptime. The cookies were a success (the frosting is another story) and I believe we have found us a new holiday tradition.

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In other news, Tobe and I walked into QuickTrip on Saturday night (where else would one go on a Saturday night???) only to see ol' St. Nick himself at the check-out counter. Hysterical. I suppose he had just gotten off work and was headed home to Mrs. Claus. Tobe said I should have hugged him. He must have been a Southlake Santa because he had the real hair and beard and wasn't sporting a set of fake hair. Wanna know what kind of car Santa drives....an old Honda Accord. Guess the sleigh was in the shop.

Hello, Blog World!

The two readers that I still have left have both questioned this week if I am ever going to post on my blog again. The answer is.....................Yes! The lack of posting is not due to lack of funny Isaac stories or exciting events here at casa de Phillips but more likely due to my laziness and frequent migraines caused by this bundle of joy growing in my tummy (my new outlook on the migraines is that I would rather this baby cause them now than when he/she is 15 years old. Perhaps this is all the trouble child number two will ever give me!)

Recap time:

Thanksgiving: Turkey Day was a successful day in the Phillips' household with an unanticipated exciting start. I walked out of the bedroom that morning to put the turkey in the oven and check the status on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (I HAVE to watch this every year or my holiday season is ruined) when I was met by an unfortunate smell outside of Isaac's door. Seems the poor boy had gotten sick in the middle of the night and had slept in a pile of throw-up. Because we are used to this sweet boy getting sick on occasion, Tobe and I immediately began the process of cleaning everything up. This involved me waking Isaac up to put him in the bathtub (he began clapping when I started the water--that boy loves his bath even at 6am!) while Tobe stripped the bed and began the wash. Windows were open and many candles lit to rid the room of the telltale smell. The rest of Turkey Day went well with Tobe's parents and sister joining us for lunch and then our little family just chillin' together for the rest of the day. I believe that Tobe and I sat on the couch that evening for at least three hours watching all of the Friends' Thanksgiving episodes on TBS.

Black Friday: I love to shop and I actually enjoy shopping in large holiday crowds. However, I have never really taken part in the early morning madness of Black Friday shopping. This is partly because we are in Arkansas every other year for Thanksgiving so my choices of stores are quite limited during those times and partly because we often have the majority of our Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. However, this year I decided to venture out to Wal-Mart at 5am to score a cheap, portable DVD player for Isaac so we don't always have to use the laptop to watch videos on planes. I pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot at 4:50am ready to fight my way into the door and race towards my prized DVD player. Much to my surprise, there were no lines or frantic people attempting to get cheap holiday deals. The store was quite packed but tons of employees were on hand to give assistance and tell you where deal items were located. (The electronic sale items were being held in the meat department.) I raced to the meat department and retrieved my DVD player, snatched up a Special Edition Little People Amusement Park for Isaac (We LOVE all things Little People here in our household), and headed for the check-out lane. The only commotion I heard was from a group of women frantically searching for the $10 Easy Bake Oven. I was out of Wal-Mart and back in my car by 5:12am. I then proceeded to load up with the rest of the family into Tobe's parents van and head out for West Texas to spend some time with Tobe's grandparents.

The Stomach Bug: Tobe and I were struck by the stomach bug the Sunday night after Thanksgiving. Tobe started feeling sick first and then it hit me. I really thought mine was the ever-present morning sickness, but quickly realized it was a bit more serious. We spent the evening in misery but came through it together. Tobe worked from home the next day so we were able to tag-team with caring for the baby. We were all good as new on Tuesday morning.

Arkansas trip: Last Tuesday night I headed out for Arkansas to spend Wednesday with my grandmother. My mom was out of town and the 29th of November was the one year anniversary of my grandfather's passing. I surprised Grandmother early Wednesday morning and we had a great day together just talking and hanging out. She was in really good spirits, which was nice to see. Tobe had taken the day off of work and he and Isaac had "Daddy/Tiger Day". This was a first for them and they had lots of fun, despite the fact that Isaac had several major blowout diapers which is very unusual for him. I will attach pictures below of some of the fun they enjoyed. I flew back home late Wednesday night, making it in before the big ice storm.

Artic Blast 2006: I love when snow and ice are predicted here, because all the news stations treat it as if World War 3 is about to be declared. We spent Thursday indoors, watching the weather and admiring the snow. Tobe returned home from work around noon, so we didn't have to worry about him attempting to commute in the rush hour traffic and ice (Ask him about the time it took him over three hours to get home from work when a sudden ice storm hit at the end of the workday--not fun, my friend!). We took Isaac out into the snow and he wasn't even barely impressed. It was nice to have a day to stay inside and enjoy the cold temperatures.

Christmas Picture Session: This week I took Isaac to have his Christmas pictures taken. He likely will need several therapy sessions to get over this trauma. We went to the same portrait studio we always go to because I know that Isaac tends to feel more comfortable in familiar places. I arrived a few minutes early to give him time to get used to the setting before someone started snapping pictures. Apparently the studio was running ahead of schedule as well (very unusual) because they were ready to start as soon as we walked in the door. Isaac was not too thrilled with this idea. The rush of tears started when the photographer moved his stroller and did not end until we exited the studio thirty minutes later. The boy cried the whole time. I usually like the photographers at this studio and the last few times the photographer has been able to get smiles out of a hesitant Isaac. This lady didn't really make an attempt to put Isaac at ease or give him a minute to become adjusted to his surroundings. She then attempted to sell me large, expensive packages of pictures of a crying 16 month old. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a very sad baby. I did settle on two pictures (there was no way I was going to attempt this task again and return for a repeat photo session)---one of which Isaac is not smiling and you can see my fingers in the edge of the picture as I attempt to hold him in place (it is a cute expression--just no smile) and a profile shot of Isaac sitting in a rocking chair, in which you can see a large tear on his face. Classic. As soon as we left the studio, Isaac was all smiles. Ugh! We then proceeded to look in some of the stores while we waited for our portraits to be printed. In one store I was told that Isaac and his stroller would have to remain by the cash register while I shopped. There was no sign on the door or anywhere saying "No Strollers or Babies Allowed" and so we chose to leave the store rather than leave my child by the register (By the way, I will no longer be shopping at Penny Lane of Colleyville. If you don't want kids or strollers in your store, put up a sign. Don't tell Moms that their children have to be banished to the cash register area upon entering the store. Better yet--create a small playyard for kids to stay in while Moms shop.) Christmas Pictures 2006 are done and I am sure in future years we will look at these portraits and laugh....hopefully.

Tuesday Night Date Night: Call us extravagant, but Tobe and I had a date night on a TUESDAY NIGHT!!!! The grandparents came over to watch Isaac while we set out for the Dixie Chicks concert. It was excellent and the place was full. I know a lot of people have strong feelings about the Dixie Chicks and the "London Comment" made several years ago. Everyone is entitled to their opinion (however I have found that most people honestly do not know the actual quote that was even said at that concert). Tobe and I do find it amusing that despite all the drama made about this quote from Natalie Maines, no one has really had issue with what she says about the President in their movie "Shut Up and Sing." Don't know what I am referring to? You probably have seen the edited version if you have seen the preview for this movie. Otherwise, I suppose you can Google it. Be advised that it is strong language. The concert was great and we are so glad we saw them on this tour. If you happen to be a "W" fan, you wouldn't have found many friends in this audience. There were several signs (from audience members) that were quite amusing and got loud crowd responses. A few rows ahead of us someone was sporting a spin off of the French Connection shirt (Like the one Natalie made to get back at Toby Keith) that was aimed at the president. Hmmm.... Enough political talk....speaking of "W" Tobe and I made a quick pit stop at the new W Hotel for me to use the restroom as we walked from our car to AAC. Upon entering this trendy hotel, I somehow managed to trip on the entrance rug and almost fall flat on my face in front of numerous trendy people. Nice. Then I get a bit confused as I am making my way to the restroom because all the walls are mirrored. Guess I am not trendy enough for such hangouts because the whole five minute experience was a bit stressful for me.

Central Market: I have had yesterday marked on the ol calender for a while now--It was the Grand Opening of our Central Market! My life is now complete! It was a bit crazy, but no more crazy than any of the other Central Markets on a Saturday afternoon. There were lots of things to taste but that is where the crowds seemed to form, so we avoided those. We did manage to score some organic sour cream and onion chips, which Isaac loved. Check out the new Central Market if you happen to be in the neighborhood---it is heavenly! Be sure to pick up a pack of warm butter tortillas while you are there!

Baby #2: This baby is growing. He/She doubles in size over the next month, which is starting to become evident in my waistline. Right now this little baby is the size of a large onion. With Isaac's pregnancy, I had no cravings whatsoever. This pregnancy began with a craving for nachos and has moved on to simple chips and queso. I have been strong and only have had chips and queso once (at the AAC Tuesday night in which I likely paid $20 for nachos). I did come home from my bootcamp class Monday night and ask Tobe if he had made me chips and dip. He just looked at me as if I were crazy. Not sure why I thought he might have concocted such a meal since we have no cheese or chips in the pantry--probably just wishful thinking on my part! I think it will be interesting to see if this child one day loves chips and dip.

Isaac: Isaac has officially reached 16 month old status and is a riot everyday. A few weeks back he mastered the skill of getting in and out of his Little Tikes car gracefully (after a failed attempt where he somehow ended up backwards with his bottom in the hole and his legs sticking out the rear window). He does this numerous times during the day. The funniest part is that he is always is so careful to shut the door of the car after exiting. He also is really catching on to picking up toys when finished playing or when the day is over. He LOVES to color and likes to have his crayons and paper out at all times on the coffee table for am impromptu art session at any given moment. He understands a lot and can respond to questions. He still doesn't say a lot of clear words, but he will repeat things (I can understand him). His new word lately has been "cracker." He has pretty much mastered the art of feeding himself with a spoon and really only needs helping with getting the last few bites out. He now hurries through his meal so he can get applesauce or yogurt. He loves to wear his hat outside when it is cold (um...had to buy a size 2T-5T hat to fit on that boy's head) and laughs when he sees himself in the mirror sporting this winter wear. His new "trick" is to make a silly face which honestly looks like a "Sing Song face" (ACU reference). It is hysterical and I must admit I showed him how to do it.

Christmas Decorating: I love Christmas and all things associated with it. Our four trees are trimmed (only one is a big tree--there isn't that much room in casa de Phillips) and we had the 6th Annual Phillips Family Christmas Lighting Ceremony last week. Isaac has done really well with not messing with the tree or any of the presents underneath. Yesterday I hung an ornament with his picture in it and he loves to go and point at it. Sweet boy. I am a bit disturbed by seeing "dead" snowmen and Santas on people's lawns during the day. I know people with inflatable decorations must let them deflate during the day, but it slightly disturbs me. However I respect anyone who puts up holiday decorations and I can't wait to go look at Christmas lights. I really love houses that go overboard on the lights. I was going on about my love for Christmas lights to Tobe the other night and he looked at me and said, "You are a really sweet person." Not sure if he meant more "simple" than "sweet" because of my extreme love for Christmas lights, but I will take it as a compliment nonetheless. Sunday night HGTV is airing a show about tacky Christmas light displays in America. I can't wait! I bet the houses will be beautiful!

Church of Christ Humor: For those ACU/Highland Church alumni go to www.youtube.com and enter in "Mike Cope Sings the Classics" into the search box. This is hysterical! Tobe didn't think it was quite as funny as I did, but it makes me about cry every time I watch it.

Whew! If you made it all the way to the end, kudos to you! Sorry for the lack of posts, dear friends. Also, those of you whose blogs I follow please know I still read them even though I have not commented in a while. Hopefully these headaches will end soon and computer time won't be so unpleasant.

Happy Holidays!

Photos from Daddy/Tiger Day

**Waking up**

**Enjoying the local sidewalk cafe***

(IN PJS)**Checking out the local holiday displays****Snow day**

(notice the look of excitement on Isaac's face)**This is what happens when Mom attempts to take a cute Christmas card picture by placing a 16 month old in a box**