Guys, I'm in here!

Isabelle has been acting like such a drama queen lately. You can reprimand her in the littlest way and she runs away crying hysterically. At my parents house, she runs and throws herself on to their bed and acts like she just found out that the world is ending. My dad told her to get her hand out of her nose and she was off, crying that "Jrandpa hurt me." Usually one of the softy's (Chuck 0r Connie) follows her begging for forgiveness. Last night, no one followed her because we wanted to see what she would do. We heard the usual cries and finally after a few minutes, there was nothing. Then we heard a little voice say "Guys, I'm in here. Guys, I'm in here. GUYS! I'M IN HERE!" The kid was waiting for someone to track her down and apologize. The second that she saw me round the corner, she started crying. She had her head in the pillow and you could tell that she has been peaking out waiting for a reason to start the drama show all over again. Kids! After that issue got resolved, my dad told her that she couldn't ride Spot (the horse) until she didn't act like a baby. All she heard was "Let's go ride Spot." Before you know it, she had her coat and boots on. She was very confused that Jrandpa was still sitting there. So she brought him his boots. Mind you, it was dark and freezing outside. When she couldn't get those shoes on, she went and found another pair to try. We all kept telling her that it wasn't going to be tonight but as per usual, she heard what she wanted to hear. She kept telling Chuck, "I'm ready to ride Spot now." The kid loves horses. I don't think you should turn kids off from what they love, but I'm hoping she picks something a litte safer. My brother-in-law, Cody, told her that if she turns into a cowgirl that he wouldn't be able to love her anymore. She looked at him and said, "No, I'm a cowboy like Jrandpa." What more can I say?

Random Izzy Thoughts...

I have a lot to blog about today because I have been away for so long. I actually have a valid reason. My blood pressure is very high which is causing me to have a habitual headache. Which makes it difficult to stare at a computer screen for too long. But I'm feeling much better today, so I really want to get caught up. My parents have been so great (they always are but exceptionally so lately) and they have been picking Izzy up four nights a week so that I can go to the gym. I feel so much better when I have a small amount of personal time that I can spend on the treadmill. Not that it appears to be doing much good, as I have gained 13 pounds this month. But oh well. Sadly, I have gained as much weight this time around as I did when I was 19 weeks pregnant with Izzy. This is not a good sign. But as the nurse pointed out, most of my weight gain was in the last four months with Isabelle, so I need to be extra careful. This is not fun, but extremely neccessary, to hear. But Izzy has been going out of her way to be helpful and she assisted my mom with the dishes the other night. Hopefully she can do enough to earn her keep that they will want to continue to pick her up. It really is a life saver.

Bake Off

Yes, Jaderbug, Izzy is naked again. I can't seem to keep her clothes on. I think I let her watch too much TV.

These pictures are actually from before Christmas, but I just saw them again. Chase was out of town (how unusual!) and so my parents and I had a baking day. It was a lot of fun and Isabelle was very good about rolling out the dough and then pushing the cookie cutters in. And then eating it instead of putting it on the tray. She was so helpful. We made chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies and popcorn balls. But I had actually lost 3 pounds at the doctors visit I had right after this. So I guess I'm not a very good cook.

It's Jade! Not Really...

Welcome to American Baby magazine. I get this for free my doctor every month and I usually quickly scan and toss. Another reason that landfills are out of control (I have actually tried refusing the magazine, but it doesn't seem to work). This month, Isabelle has become convinced that this is Jade on the cover. Obviously, it is not, because Jade is much cuter. But it you kind of squint and tilt your head a little, I guess you could made see some similarities. Isabelle is 100% convinced that it is. She has been carrying it around telling everyone, "That's Jade." Our checker at Target asked me if we really knew this little girl. When I said no, Isabelle looked and me and said, "Mommy, that's Jade. You know, she lives with Ryan and Micki." Thanks for the clarification Izzy! Unfortunately though, that is not correct. I have to pry it out of her hands in the morning when I drop her off and its the first thing that she grabs when she gets back in the car. She is very proud of her pretend cousin for being on a national magazine cover and all.

More humans, please!

I think it’s safe to assume that Izzy and I need more human interaction. This is Izzy pretending her bear is the daddy and she is the mommy and they are taking care of a new baby. I felt kind of bad for the poor kid because she must be starting to feel as lonely as I do. It was super cute to watch Izzy put the bear in the chair. Later, after my camera died, she cooked dinner for her little family unit in her kitchen. I love watching her pretend because I often don’t know where this stuff comes from and I find it hysterical. The stuff that kids come up with! Izzy and I both stayed home yesterday because we were sick. I actually stayed home for me, but I was glad that I did because Izzy started throwing up around 9 and didn’t stop all day. I have scrubbed enough vomit out of the carpet, clothes and sheets to last me a week. What am I saying? I scrubbed enough to last me an entire lifetime. We had the barf bowl out but she would get scared and want to hold me instead of the bowl. Around 3, she was throwing up and crying for Daddy so we tried to call even though we knew he would be sleeping. We didn’t get to talk to him so that made Izzy even sadder. Needless to say, it was a very long day.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just when I thought that he forgot! Chasey sent me this lovely floral arrangement. I was hinting around on the phone today that I was feeling lonely and Chase said, " I don't know why you think you have to remind me!" And I didn't! A dozen red roses showed up for me at work today. My absolute favorite kind of flowers. I know that some people think that flowers are a waste of money (and they probably kind of are) but this is going to keep me in a great mood all day! I carried them back to the breakroom while I ate lunch and then back to my desk because everytime I look at them, I am reminded how lucky I am. I love you babe!

I want Daddy

Izzy rounded the corner last night at the day care, took one look at me, said “Nope, I want Daddy,” and returned to her seat on the couch. You can only imagine how good this was for my self esteem. You can’t leave the tile at day care unless you take off your shoes, so I had to wait for one of the employees to drag my child to me kicking and screaming. I asked if I could leave her there overnight, and they laughed, not knowing that I was serious. It is always hard to adjust Izzy back into being a Mommy’s girl for the first few days. But we had such a good week last week that I’m still energized. For the time being. I went to the Apple to work out last night and I was on the treadmill next to a girl watching a movie on her Ipod. She told me that she watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith while she worked out in order to motivate herself to look like Angelina Jolie. I told her if that was the case, I should watch old episodes of The View so that I could aspire to look like Rosie O. As you can tell, it was a long day for me. Chase and I went to Ashton last weekend to help my Grandma with her new door knobs. We had a really good time and Izzy didn’t want to leave. Of course, the puppy did want to leave because Izzy strangled him the entire time in the car. She loves him so much! Chase got out of the car to install his Valentine’s Day present (custom taillights) and you can see how excited Izzy was to be stuck with me. Why doesn’t my child love me? I think she does but Daddy has become a fun novelty and that outweighs me for the time being. This morning, Izzy was so good that I almost didn't recognize her. We only had a couple of moments instead of our usual breakdowns.

All Grown Up!

In order for Chase to get LOTS of brownie points on his last night, we took Izzy to Leo’s Place last night. Which is pretty much the Idaho Falls equivalent of hell on earth (better known as Chuck E. Cheese). Watching her race around 10 feet off the ground made me nervous and sad at the same time. I actually started crying when she got stuck and needed me. Mainly because I’m pregnant, but the emotion of dealing with an aging child got to me last night. As you can tell from the pictures, she was all over with no hesitation whatsoever. And we had to beg her to eat. She kept saying, “No! I want to play!” So Chase made her sit in the seat by the wall until she took two bites. She tried to make the most of those bites. But here we are again, facing another 3 weeks without Chase.

Crazy Cousins

So I lied about the better photography. This whole thing happened so fast that I didn’t have a chance to grab my camera and had to use my phone once again. We went over to Ryan & Nicki’s last night and the girls were being amazingly quiet. I wish I had a before picture so that you could see that when we arrived, Nicole had a spotless rob with a made bed. Somewhere along the line, the girls moved Jade’s entire room into her parent’s room, I assume so they could play while watching TV. What can I say? They’re Burkes. Burkes are TV addicts. Stuffed animals, blankets and tons of little toys were everywhere. The mess even extended out of this picture, I know because I stepped on a play fork while taking it. Earlier, Nicole headed back to put little Mia to bed and next thing I knew, she was calling for Ryan. I knew right then that my child was somehow involved in something. It was crazy! Later that night, Isabelle came back into the living room wearing Jade’s pjs. The kid just makes herself at home wherever she goes. But Jade and Izzy were super cute last night and hugs were plentiful. Needless to say, Izzy didn’t want to come home with her lame parents when she was having so much fun with Jade!

Katie's Camera!

Everyone will be excited to know that I'm charging my camera as I type. Come back soon for a much higher quaility of photography...

All About Hair

I'm so proud of Chase. He has become extra ambitious with Izzy's hair lately. Much more than myself, who would just rather her wear a hat. This morning, he gave her pigtails. As you can tell from my photo montage, she wasn't the easiest client. And they turned out pretty good. I was impressed anyway. Her gold purse is her new favorite accessory because it holds her "dollars," which are really a bunch of dimes and nickels. But she even slept with it last night. I know because I kept waking up with slams to the face. Chase and I let her sleep with us because she misses her Daddy so much while he is away.

Super Bowl=Super Fun!

Chase and I held our 3rd Annual Super Bowl Bash this weekend and both of us had a really great time. I hope everyone else did. These pictures are truly horrible and don't really capture any of the fun that we had, but unfortunately, I still have not charged my camera and had to use my phone again. And needless to say, these photos reflect the extremely low quality images that I get with this method. But I didn't really have time to take pictures while trying to host 38 people (kids included in this count). Things got really crazy because it was hard to breathe! In fact, Isabelle got bit and you could still see the marks this morning. You might be wondering why Izzy is wearing different clothes in each picture. This is because she changed her clothes no less than 4 times. One time, I looked into the hallway just as I saw a streak of flesh running from the bathroom. It was my butt-naked child. I heard Natasha tell Paula, "I think I just saw Izzy's butt!" Yes, she was completely nude and I still have no idea why. I think I need to spend more time working with Izzy to not become a stripper. The bigger kids played on the wii while the grown up kids screamed at the TV. Unfortunately, the rest of the females and myself were subjected to the "Enhancement" commercial multiple times. Remind me never to use Go Daddy! for any of my website needs. Paula turns 26 (!!) today, so I got her a cake and we all sang at halftime. It was the loudest, most horrible thing to listen to ever. But I hope she has a great day. Chase and I love our Superbowl party so much, mainly because it is worth every penny we spend to see our old (& new) friends.