happy birthday sweet girl!!

one year ago today, i was finally in the mother-baby ward relaxing after 36 hours of labor...and chris was asleep on the floor of our hospital room because the chair was just a chair and not a pull down bed like he was told it would be. luckily at 4am that night, the nurse realized he was down there and brought him in a chair-bed...which apparently was no more comfortable than the floor. but all that was worth it to get our baby girl. happy birthday sweet angel! we are so happy to have you!!

more birthday pictures to come! stay tuned!

much love and not much sleep,

c, c, and t

last weekend

so i still owe you a telling of our adventures last weekend...so here you go:

thalia and i headed home last wednesday for a long weekend. i took a couple vacation days so thalia and i could go visit her great-grandma and great-grandpa up north. so we got home wednesday, had dinner with chris' family, and showed off some of thalia's early "walking" skills. thursday we headed up to west branch and spent the day playing with thalia's great-grandparents. we spent the night up there and friday morning went to big boy for breakfast so great-grandparents could show off their great-granddaughter. then thalia and i headed back towards ann arbor. we stopped by the VA hospital to have lunch with aunt steph. then we went to st. joe's hospital to meet little xavier scott bishop (picture of the bishops' new addition as soon as mr bishop emails them to me!). what a doll he is! he was born 2 weeks early but weighs exactly what thalia did when she was born. holding xavier after carrying thalia up to the 3rd floor of the hospital was ridiculous! to think that just a year ago, thalia was that tiny and fragile and flimsy!! he is a cutie pie though! after that, we went to u-m hospital (have you noticed a key word yet?) to see thalia's grandparents-by-proxy cathy and wes. get this - wes needed a new kidney and he didn't have to look very far to find it because cathy was a perfect match for him. so the day before valentine's day, cathy donated one of her kidneys to her husband! is that not the greatest story?! we didn't end up getting to see grandpa wes but we got to spend some time with grandma cathy and even though she was in a bit of pain and a tad groggy, she was really excited to see thalia.

saturday, believe it or not, we didn't end up going to any hospitals!! instead, we went to aunt jen's baby shower for "BC". the boys all went bowling and jen's nieces had fun playing with thalia. after we got everything cleaned up, chris and i took thalia home and all three of us crashed on the couch. we had already had quite the weekend! the fun wasn't over though - 10 of us went out to dinner for valentine's day while aunt/grandma susie and uncle/grandpa mike watched thalia and sophia. i think i told you in the last post that gamma donna and grandpa mark got the flu and weren't able to watch thalia for us. that's why it pays to have lots of family around!! it was really nice being able to go out with our family and friends and have an adult beverage (or 2!). we were causing quite the scene but none of us minded.

we got home and went to bed. we had planned on going back to u-m to see wes, since he hadn't gotten a chance to see thalia yet. we had also planned on going to church since i hadn't been home since christmas. that plan was short lived when we found out that gamma donna was in the ER because she was so sick! so we went on another area hospital tour on sunday!! i think we spent more time in a hospital than we did any other place all weekend!

even though things were crazy, and i didn't expect to spend so much time in the hospital, it really was great to get to see everyone. being gone for 6 straight weeks was tough - even though chris got to come down here twice...it just isn't the same. no worries for me or anyone else living in the ypsi-arbor-detroit area...with steph's wedding and jen's baby coming soon, thalia and i will be back on our every-other-week visiting schedule. it will be hard doing all the traveling with thalia but it will be well-worth it.

well, there you have it. our weekend adventure! hopefully this weekend will be a bit more uneventful! as a send off, i'll include some pics of thalia opening her early birthday present from yiayia and papou! thank you so much for the beautiful and adorable boots!! and look - thalia likes them AND the box ;o)

much love and a bit more sleep,

c, c, and t

yep...

that's my daughter...in the cupboard

catching up

thalia and i have had less than a relaxing weekend...i'll fill you in on that later. but i found some pictures from christmas that i don't think i posted, as well as some cute pics of thalia from this weekend...

thalia saw fishies!!
thalia trying to eat an apple
thalia and aunt seffi in the pool

this one is my favorite! she is totally passed out with her foot propped up! chillin' like a villian!!
the phillips' first new year's
thalia is going to make sure aunt seffi is awake for the festivities!
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now from this weekend...
thalia and her cousin sophie (grandma susie and grandpa mike volunteered to watch both girls so the big kids could go out for dinner!)


we got to see uncle barrett!!!

hope these brightened your day. as soon as i catch my breath, i'll fill you in on the weekend adventures!

love you all!

c, c, and t

hiking try #1

so thalia and i had quite the adventure today! we set out to test my christmas present - the coolest baby carrier EVER! here is thalia getting ready to go...

and here are the two of us...all strapped in, and ready to go!

the park we went to was beautiful!! there is a large lake about a half hour from my apartment. i told chris i would go check it out to see if it was big enough for us to take our jetboat out on it. (the answer is definitely - YES!) it is much bigger than i expected and gorgeous! there are trees everywhere and you can see some high hills around some parts. for those of you from shelby, it's kind of like stony creek but much bigger. there are a number of different parks and trails and picnic areas. and since it was 75 degrees today, the park we went to was full of families having picnics and there were a bunch of boats out on the lake. we had a really great time!

on a completely separate and totally unrelated note, i hate my keyboard. whenever i try to type while thalia is cruising around, she always wants to help me type. and for some reason, maybe i have told you all this before, this dumb keyboard i inherited from mahoney has a power button on it!! A POWER BUTTON! the worst part is that there isn't any warning! so when thalia's fingers find the power button, as they usually do, the computer just shuts down! no "are you sure?" or anything! as you probably guessed, i was about finished typing this entry when thalia hit the power button. oh well...that's what i get for not paying attention to her every minute ;o)

we can't wait to come home! only a few more days! and you are all in luck because thalia hasn't quite started walking on her own yet. maybe it will happen this weekend!

love and miss you all!!

c, c, and t

11 months!

i am posting a big picture of thalia and her hippo. sometimes they come out normal on the side and sometimes they are really small. so i'll put a couple bigger ones on here so you can see how big and tall she is getting...i can't believe she is going to be a year old in a couple weeks!!

this vest came as part of a 3 piece outfit...the other 2 pieces fit her perfectly...the vest is ginormous! guess we'll have to bring it to michigan :o)



by the way...for all of our friends and family in the mitten - it was 72 degrees and sunny today :oP no worries...i'll be eating my words in a few days when i am in michigan and it is really cold.
can't wait to see you all!!!!!!!
much love and a little sleep,
c, c, and t

my muse

anyone worried that thalia may not live up to her namesake of being an inspiration of comedy obviously hasn't spent more than 5 seconds with this little girl. look at what she was doing last night! i was crying i was laughing so hard!

i don't know if she was trying to get IN the basket or if she was trying to be a ballerina. either way, i was cracking up. she actually got her other leg up on the tv table, if you can believe that!

cheer up

i'm really homesick tonight...thought if i posted some new pics of thalia, it may cheer me up. i think she is teething again because she has been so fussy and hasn't been sleeping well. wish me luck on that one. on the bright side, she hasn't eaten in the middle of the night in a week and a half. she usually wakes up with me at 630, has a bottle, and goes back to sleep for an hour. this is perfect because i am up anyway, and i can take a shower and get almost all ready for work before she wakes up.

this is thalia snuggling with her daddy watching the super bowl. yeah, its not some raucous party...but it's hard to beat :o)

typical thalia...living up to her namesake. she is so goofy.

since i think thalia is teething i gave her a "biter biscuit" to chew on. of course, instead of chewing on it, she just sucks on it and makes a HUGE mess. if you blow the pic up, i think you can see cookie on her eyelashes!!

well, my plan worked a little bit. i hope these pics brighten your day too. we really miss you all. i am really grateful that chris was able to come down in january...but 6 weeks away from everyone is really starting to wear on my bones.

much, much, MUCH love and little sleep,

c, c, and t

oh my goodness

i have to share the funniest story with you...thalia is the most ridiculous little girl i have ever met! i told you how she can open cupboards now...and did i tell you i can only lock one of them? so she can open the cupboard with all my tupperware in it. and tonight, not only did she open the cupboard, but she literally grabbed every single tupperware container and threw it over her shoulder, all over my kitchen floor. not only that, then she got IN the cupboard because there was a lid that hadn't been thrown yet...she just didn't want it to feel left out. i was laughing so hard i was crying. and of course, she heard me laughing and that made her laugh. lately, she has been doing this fake chuckle...i'll have to try to get it on video. it is hilarious. we definitely had fun. enjoy the pictures!

much love and a bit more sleep,

c, c, and t