no news...

so i don't really have any news or updates for you...i guess i should tell you that thalia has two new teeth coming in - one on the top and another one on the bottom. she has been chewing on her fingers a ton this weekend so i am wondering if she is working on some molars too. she hasn't been sleeping well either which is unusual. i'll keep you posted.

so the original plan was to take a picture of thalia with her hippo every month of her first year and then on her birthday each year after that. as i was thinking about it though, i thought that you all have gotten accustomed to seeing a new hippo picture each month. plus it would be an easy for you to see how big she is growing each month. so without further ado...thalia's 13 month hippo pictures!

i love this one! she is sitting on the hippo's lap!!

and here is a random pic of me and thalia...since i am always the one taking the pictures, there aren't many of the two of us. i took this picture for the photo directory at our church down here. i don't think it turned out too bad considering it was on a timer and thalia actually looked at the camera!

we hope you have a wonderful week! we miss you and love you all!

much, much love and little sleep,

c, c, and t

pics galore again!

i hope ya'll don't mind me posting all of these pictures. there has been so much going on lately - 10 days in michigan, 1 year pictures, madilynn's arrival. i hope you enjoy!

gamma is feeding her ice cream...apparently the bowl grandpa fed her wasn't enough!
'nough said :o)

grandpa just wanted to brag to everyone that he has two grandbabies now!
madilynn at home with her daddy
what a goofy girl!

what a smile!

my little angel 0:-)

as promised

ok, so still no pictures from my camera. but i did sneak onto uncle wj's computer and email myself some of his pics of his new baby girl... isn't my little niece great?!

and here is my little one, tromping around the apartment. i must admit...it's definitely different seeing her walk around here, than it was seeing her at our house in michigan...

much love and hopefully some sleep tonight,
we love you all so much!
c, c, and t

she's here!!!

i am officially an auntie!!! little madilynn rose church was born just before 10pm on thursday. i have been many things in my life...a sister, a cousin, a godmother, a mommy, but never an auntie. i must admit that i am still getting used to the idea. but madilynn (or mad dog as her daddy is already affectionately calling her) is a sweetheart and is so cute! jennifer is doing really well after a tough delivery. and wj is already a great dad and is very protective of his girls!
now, i know you are wondering where the pictures are. well, that is a bit of a long story. we have pictures on our digital camera. however, the usb cord that connects the camera to the computer no longer works. so we bought a docking station. well, then our computer blew up. so no computer dock and no usb cord. but, gamma is coming to the rescue and is going to let me borrow her usb cord in hopes that all kodak cords are universal. stay tuned!
thalia is doing much better with madilynn than she was with xavier a couple weeks ago. friday night we were at the hospital and madilynn started crying. thalia walked right over to the bassinet and tried to peer inside. i picked up madi and brought her to jennifer and thalia followed us over to the bed. then she was on her tip-toes at the side of the bed trying to see the baby. it was precious.
so i promise, pictures of madilynn rose, and a video of thalia walking. pinky swear!
oh, and by the way...we cancelled our glider order from target (it wasn't going to ship until april 20!!!) and surprised jen, walt, and madilynn with a similar one that i picked up from wal-mart! it was waiting for them in the family room when they arrived home from the hospital last night.
much love and more sleep,
c, c, and t

baby watch '09

the watch continues...thalia's little cousin was supposed to make his/her appearance over a week ago, and still we are waiting to meet him/her. the names are picked, the nursery is ready...the stupid glider we ordered for them still hasn't arrived, but we are all eagerly anticipating the new addition to the phillips/church family. maybe BC is waiting for the glider to arrive! stupid target back order!!
the great news is that while we wait, thalia and i get to stay in michigan!! i work on an amazing team and they are letting me work from michigan for the whole week so that we don't miss the birth of BC. i am really grateful for them, and for the technology that allows me to really work from anywhere (even our deck - as i found out yesterday when it was 70 and sunny!)
now for a confession - i was going to wait until i got back to north carolina so i could upload a video, but alas, we are "stuck" in michigan for the week. so you don't have video proof, only my word...thalia starting walking on friday! it was like a lightswitch went on in her head and she realized she didn't have to crawl! she has been tromping all over the house ever since. the even better part about the whole thing is, not only did she wait until we got home to michigan to walk...she walked right over to chris! it was incredible. she just cracks me up. at least we are all entertained while we wait for little BC!
hopefully i will have some big news for you in a few hours. keep your fingers crossed for aunt jen and uncle wj!!

much love and much sleep (thalia slept through the night last night!)
c, c, and t

the cupboard adventure continues...

maybe she thinks there is a hidden passage back there...maybe there really is! ;o)

much love and not so much sleep...we had a rough night
c, c, and t

more birthday pics

thalia is so blessed to have so many people loving her...she got two birthday parties! here are pics from martha mama and uncle ronnie's. i don't know who had more fun...thalia or martha :o)

pizza crust for dinner

showing off her "booger face"

her beautiful birthday candle

enjoying her cake...what i don't have is the video i took on my phone of thalia sharing her cake with martha. thalia would take a bite, then get more and give it to martha. it was hilarious!

all cleaned up with her birthday hat on

thalia likes to play peek-a-boo around things where she can see you on both sides, like this door. she would look at you through the glass, then step to the side and look at you around the door. what a goof!

i hope y'all (yes, i said it) don't get sick of seeing pics of thalia! keep us in your prayers tomorrow. neither thalia nor i have been quite ourselves lately, and my team at work finds out if they have jobs tomorrow. i will get to stay regardless but my role will most likely change, as will the people i work with potentially. it's been a rough couple weeks and i think it has been taking its toll on me, and thus thalia. at least we get to go to michigan on thursday.

thanks for all your love, support, and prayers. we wouldn't be us without you!!

much love and a bit more sleep,

c, c, and t

the year in hippo

thalia at 2 weeks
thalia at 1 year

incredible!!

more birthday blessings

what a weekend turned into what a week! i'm not quite up for going through all of it now, so instead - i'll leave you with some great pictures from thalia's MEGA first birthday party. enjoy!!

soaking in the attention as we all sing "happy birthday" (isn't that a GREAT winnie the pooh cake?! thanks gamma!!)

handing gamma her "1" birthday candle
she was just poking her cake, so yiayia gave her a spoon...and she started scraping off all the frosting and eating it off the spoon! must have gotten her "clean gene" from papou!!

aunt seffi gave her a beautiful tiara for her birthday. she left it on just long enough to snap the picture. you can see that her pooh cake is pretty naked since she scraped all the frosting off with her spoon :o)

about 15 minutes after everyone left, thalia was passed out on the couch - along with grandpa! (note to myself: don't show this picture to people at work because they think that this is a picture of MY mom and dad. must be the blonde hair!!)

hope these brightened your day!

much love and little sleep,

c, c, and t