Like Daddy, Like Daughter

Chase and I are starting to a horrible precedent by letting Isabelle sleep with us. We know this and completely understand the ramifications. But we are addicts and we can't stop. Look how cute she is sleeping next to her Daddy. Both with their cute little elbows sticking out. We have limited her to two nights a week with us and amazingly she seems to accept this and goes straight to her bed most nights. Last night, Chase asked her where she wanted to sleep and she said, "In there," while pointing to our room. And it was a good thing actually because she was sick all night. I kept having to change her diaper and I could hear her little body just turning on the inside. Poor baby!

Merrick Family Slides

I finally wrapped up my four year project this month. I scanned all my great grandparents old slides and put them on a DVD. My grandma asked me to do this and it has been much more time consuming that I ever intended. But I thought if there was ever a time, this would be it. Especially because I will have two kids shortly and from what I can tell, this is going to make things go from hard to darn near impossible.

Here is a stellar picture of Chuck. He's the one on the far left in case you couldn't tell. I think that my Aunt Cyndy is the one on the far right.
Judging by my Grandpa's age in this picture, this must be me that he is holding. I love this picture and I wish I could hug him one more time.

Are these kids the accidents?

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

As much fun as we had, I’m very relieved that Christmas is over. The mass commercialism of the holiday reared its ugly head at our house yesterday and it left me feeling kind of gross. Izzy had so many presents that she kept trying to lie down and go to sleep instead of opening them. She would have been happy with one present instead of being completely overwhelmed. Toys and clothes were everywhere and at the end of the day, I really couldn’t believe everything. But she was most excited about her baby stroller, play pen and swing that she got for her baby. Chase, on the other hand, was not excited. It took him forever to put it all together. He tried to follow the instructions but they weren’t great and kept making things worse.We had a very nice day and I think that everyone like what we got them. I’m also relieved that I won’t be getting yelled at so much anymore at work. Hopefully…

Ornament Faces

Izzy was being so funny last night that I couldn’t help but laugh at her. She would get really close to the Christmas tree and make funny faces in the ornaments and then laugh her at herself. She would cross her eyes and blow out her cheeks and then laugh for five minutes. I took some pictures and while they don’t really capture the true hilarity, I thought they were better than nothing. Merry Christmas!

A Burke Family Christmas

After a quick adventure to Salt Lake City, I’m glad to say that we all made in back in one piece. The Burke Family Christmas Party was this weekend, so Ryan, Cody, Jade, Isabelle, Mia & I piled in the Yukon Saturday night after I got off work. I was just grateful that I didn’t have to drive. Jade was definitely the best behaved kid throughout the trip. Mia got to come with us which was very exciting. I bet Chase $100 she wouldn’t come because I didn’t think Nicole would want to be away from her quite yet. I wasn’t the only one who thought that way because I heard a few people at the Christmas party tell other people that Nicole & Mia didn’t come. Jana was obviously very excited Mia came and held her all day long, which is probably why other family members hadn’t seen her at that point. I know that it was extremely difficult to let her baby go but I think that Mia punished Ryan enough during the night. From what I hear, she was up all night long! I got punished on Sunday though becuase Isabelle refused to nap which is not best case scenario. In fact, is probably very close to worse case. I was extremely tired by end of the party because it was just a very long weekend. On the car ride on the way home, Isabelle started freaking out and cried for 20 minutes. When we finally got to a place where we could stop, she was sweating to death but she calmed down. After that things went smoothly. The girls watched a movie, I tested Ryan to establish that he wasn’t a serial killer (though he did have a cat story that was extremely creepy) and we made it home by 10. Not a bad trip and best of all, I didn't have to drive!

I Hate Alltel

I have been stuck in Alltel hell for approximately two months now. It's actually gotten to the point where I have lost sleep. It's a very complicated story but I feel like it might alleviate some of my bah humbugs to get it off my chest. WAY BACK in October, I lost my cell phone. It was my own fault and I took responsibility for the situation. My husband lovingly went to Alltel for me and got me a new phone. Please keep in mind that prior to this incident, I had had the same Blackberry for two years. In fact, the person that helped Chase get me a new phone called my old phone a ghetto fabulous dinosaur. But I liked the phone and it still worked, so why get a new one? Chase brought me home a new phone. Two days later, it stopped charging and the Alltel employee that helped me told me the portal was shot. They gave me another phone and this phone worked for maybe one month before the portal became broken again. So to keep up, I picked up my third new phone in one month. Two weeks later, it stopped receiving incoming calls. Every call went straight to my voicemail. Once again, I went to the Alltel corporate store (on 17th just in case anyone out there cares). Let me be clear in saying that every time you go in there, you have to put your name on the list and wait for over an hour. So I went to pick up my 4th Alltel phone, waited for over an hour and was then told that I had to call the Tech desk first. Meanwhile, my two year old is running around like a demon. She can be very good but she was losing her patience very quickly. Especially because I was on the phone and unable to distract her. Finally, they determine that (imagine this) the phone is defunct. So they give me a new one after 2 1/2 hours. I go home, like instructed, turn the stupid thing off and start to charge it. I wake up in the morning and, you guessed it, the portal was busted and not working. I once again go back to Alltel on a Saturday. They tell me that all their Blackberry phones are gone and all the loner phones are checked out. So I leave without a cellphone. They tell me that they will have a phone overnighted on Monday and it will be in on Tuesday. And I'm expected to go without a phone this entire time. WHATEVER. I go back on Wednesday to pick up my phone because I didn't have the heart to go in on Tuesday. I arrive at 6:30. At 8:15 they tell me that my phone hasn't arrived yet and there is nothing I can do or that they are willing to do for me. At this point, I have had enough. I got up this morning and called customer service. Guess what they did for me? They have me a $10 dollar credit. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? And I still don't have a phone. So I looked up the head of marketing for Alltel and I sent him an email. I will keep you posted but not via phone OBVIOUSLY! This entire time, I feel like they think I'm doing this on purpose. I had the same phone for TWO YEARS without any problems. I am not hard on cell phones. I love my cell phone. I take good care of it. Every time I go in to the corporate Alltel store, I am nice and kind and do my best to realize that these people are not behind my problems. Maybe if I start being beyotchy, they will do something. This is a society that rewards bad behavior, right?

Crazy Izzy

Isabelle got away with sleeping with me last night and I'm regretting it now. My back hurts because I couldn't move at all last night. She wouldn't sleep unless she was on me. Every time I tried to move her, she woke up and scooted right back next to me. I probably slept on less than 12 inches last night of a king size bed. IT WAS NOT FUN! And to make matters worse, I have to work today. Sad huh?

Have You Seen These Jeans? Reward Offered!

Have you seen these jeans? They cost me $30 at Fred Meyer and Izzy wore them a total of two times. The last time they were spotted was at Chuck & Connie's house approximately five days ago. They were inventoried in the bathroom while Chuck gave Izzy a bath and have never been seen again. Their immediate return (in the same condition they were lost in) is sought after...

Izzy & Jrandma

My mom forbid me from putting these on the blog, but I don't know why she thought that I would start listening to her now. I actually do listen to my mother but I thought these were to cute to pass on. Izzy loves Jrandma and Jrandpa so much. As soon as we get in the car, "I want to see Jrandma!" even if we are just leaving their house. Izzy is lucky because she has a ton of grandparents that love her so much. And they all get to be called "Jrandma and Jrandpa." How lucky are they?

The Chuck Picture

I believe that Chuck has mastered the art of self photography. My mom was teasing him about this last week, so I thought that I should offer some positive feedback because it would be a loss not to get these anymore. As you can see, Chuck is famous for positioning himself in the bottom right corner of the frame and snapping a great photo. These are only two examples of a plethora of photos that I think are great. My Dad has a lot of great qualities and being an extrovert is definitely one of them. One of my favorite memories of my dad is on my first day of kindergarten when I was sitting by myself at my little table watching all of the other kids explore the room. One of my first flashbulb memories is me looking up and seeing my dad come through the door to check on me. I remember feeling so excited to see him and instantly feeling more comfortable. I know that Izzy will have memories like this of her dad but also of her grandpa. Chuck really does turn into an unrecognizable softy when it comes to Izzy!

Our Ordinary Life

I'm feeling bad about an earlier post because after rereading, it came across a little harsh. I was having a bad week, not that this is an excuse, but I was just feeling a little down. But yesterday I started feeling better. I was watching Izzy eat last night and I just had to laugh because it was so insane. I couldn't believe what a mess that kid can make in just a few seconds. But she loves spaghetti so much. Another side note in this posting is a quick glimpse into my craziness earlier in the week. If you can kind of see the pants that Izzy is wearing in the picture, you might be wondering why I let her wear them while eating considering they cost me $30. WHAT??!? you are thinking. ME TOO. I was at Fred Meyer on Tuesday and I was in a hurry. Izzy literally has no pants that fit her right and so I grabbed this pair on my way out. The next morning (after I had ripped off the tags and tossed them) I was going over my receipt and I noticed that I paid $30 for these jeans. The pants that I'm wearing at this exact moment cost me $8. I couldn't believe that I paid $30 for jeans that Izzy will only wear for a couple of months. First, I'm going to make Izzy wear them everyday (no, I'm not serious), then I'm going to ship them to Marley and then I'm going to have them bronzed...

Making Izzy Feel Shamed

I originally took this photo to document how Isabelle behaves in a restaurant. My goal was to embarrass her so that she would stop. Unfortunately, it really didn't work. It only seemed to egg her on to the point of absolute no cooperation. I just wanted to have proof one day so that she can apologize to me for acting like a demon. This wasn't even a one time occurrence. It was every single restaurant appearance that she made for a few months. I'll let you know when it ends though last night she was very good when we went out to eat with my parents. Her only indiscretion was that she refused to eat her food and picked off my moms plate with no shame. But she ate carrots, so I didn't want to complain. You take what you can get with a two year old!

I don't think I can do this...

I feel bad that I haven't really blogged this last week. I'm hoping that writing will be good for the soul here because I need something. This has been a truly bad week and I am feeling very hopeless right now. I have been very sick for going on two weeks and it is starting to drain me. Not to mention dealing with a terrible two by myself while Chase is at work. We love it when Chase comes home but it really takes a toll on Izzy's schedule which is a huge punishment for me the next two weeks. Also I had my heart set on Christmas lights on my house and I can see now that this is not going to get done. I am tempted to do it myself but in my current condition I'm feeling very unsteady and hesitate to crawl up on a ladder. We'll see. This is weighing very heavy on me because I feel like things that are important to me aren't important to anyone else but if someone else had asked for help, it would have been done same day. I'm really trying not to let the bitterness in my heart grow because it's already been here for two days and it's not getting any better. Anyway, I need some kind of new direction right now or I just may not make it.