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!)

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

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!)