apologies

first and foremost i have to apologize to aunt jelly. when i was listing the entourage of people we had in san diego for thalia's first thanksgiving, i forgot to mention that aunt jelly flew in from denver to join us. and we were thrilled to have her there...and even more thrilled to get to visit with her in the airport when our flights were delayed!!! ;o)

thalia and chris flew down here last friday morning. i must admit that it is weird having chris here. i almost forget where i am sometimes. but i am so excited to have had him here for over a week! we are really blessed to get to spend so much time together this month.

so i started typing this post sunday...its now friday! i really thought this past week was going to be better than last week. yeah right. saturday we had lunch with my college soccer coach. that was a lot of fun! then we were going to "stop by" martha mama's and uncle ronnie's. we didn't leave until after 10pm! chris got some stomach bug sunday then monday it was off to work, flight to dallas, research in dallas from 730 - 5 on tuesday, flight to raleigh, at work at 815 wednesday to watch the FDA advisory committee meeting, left work at 630, back to work at 8 thursday, there til 530, then off to frank and laura's for dinner. that was a lot of fun - but we didn't get out of there until after 10. then back to work at 815 this morning! whew! thank goodness chris has been here to clean the apartment, do the laundry and watch thalia. we have been having a lot of fun together. i am glad i am only going to be here a week by myself before i head home - i am going to be so lonely! the craziness isn't going to stop until probably mid-january. we have three more days of research in the first two weeks of january!! luckily yiayia is going to take some time off to help me with thalia. not to mention in the meantime we are going to HAWAII!!!! i am really looking forward to just laying around and relaxing without having to worry about anything. i am a little nervous about thalia adjusting to the time change but i think it will work out. at least we are going with everyone so there will be plenty of babysitters :o) i may even get to have an umbrella drink!!

here are the latest pics for you. sorry to do them all at once...feast or famine i guess.

chris took thalia to the store. while he was changing her diaper she peed all over herself. she had been throwing up at gamma's house the day before so her extra diaper bag outfit had been taken out! so chris took off his zippie and wrapped her in it! and of course he just kept on shopping :o)
this is another hat yiayia made! you kind of have to look hard but the top looks like an upside down daisy with the stem sticking up!! it is too cute. its still a little big though. it will be great for february or march, if it ever gets cold here. it was warmer here at midnight than it was in dallas during the day tuesday!

thalia got to try cheese and edamame for the first time the other day. she was NOT sure about all of that. she ate it though. chris tried to give her more cheese the other day but she was not having it. maybe she'll be like me! hey - at least i offered it to her!

here is a family pic at the beach in san diego. aren't we cute?!

that's all for now! chris, thalia and i are off to my boss' house for our team christmas party.

much love and a lot more sleep (thalia has only been waking up once the past couple nights!!)

c, c, t

family pics

i can't believe i never posted any of these pics. the pumpkin ones are from a month ago now but i think they are to die for! the restaurant pic is from our trip to see uncle toby's parents in november. ps...i started a poll for all of you based on these pics :o) enjoy!


much love and not so much sleep (since i had to wake up so early today to catch my flight back to raleigh, i did the "let's wake up every two hours to see what time it is" game. i think i got less sleep without thalia last night than i would have with her!)
c, c, and t

Love you!

I know, I know…I am getting coal, or reindeer poop, or snowman poop, or some other lame stocking stuffer because I have been very naughty, not updating the blog in so long. I apologize for that, but it is not as easy as it sounds working from home. Thalia and I headed home over a week ago to attend Chris’ great grandma’s 99th birthday party. After that, we had dinner with my godparents, then headed up north to spend time with my grandparents. Wednesday we had fakes-giving with Chris’ family, Thursday morning (at 430am) we left for San Diego to spend time with Aunt Nikki and Uncle Toby. Our flights got all messed up coming home, so Chris, Thalia and I didn’t get home until 1am Monday morning. Monday afternoon I flew back to Raleigh and this morning I flew to DC for a day of research. Anyone still want to complain that I haven’t had time to update the blog? I didn’t think so ;o)
I guess that’s what I get for taking my daughter and moving to North Carolina. I get to cram a year’s worth of stuff into one weekend. With all the craziness, I was glad that we got to go to Thalia’s great-great grandma’s birthday party. I have pictures from all of our visits but I didn’t get a chance to email them to my work computer. I will post them as soon as Chris emails them to me. The trip up north was definitely worth it too, although it was a harrowing experience. Michigan had some bad snow storms roll through so driving became a bit treacherous. Then, when we were only a couple miles from my grandparent’s house, we saw a car that had flipped over into the ditch. Chris pulled over and had to break the back hatch to get the guy out. Luckily the guy was okay! We waited for the police to show up then we finally made it to the house. What fun Thalia had playing with her great-grandma and great-grandpa!! They don’t call them “great” for nothing!
And we had a wonderful time with everyone in San Diego. YiaYia and Papou drove in, Aunt Steph and Uncle Barrett flew in, and our friends Alex and Eric drove down from LA to spend Thanksgiving together. What a good looking crowd! And they all had a blast playing with Thalia – though it took her a while to warm up to Alex…I think it’s the hair ;o) We taught Thalia how to wave…although she does it with her arm completely outstretched, and sometimes straight up in the air, like she is in a parade or something. It is the funniest thing you have ever seen! I think YiaYia got a picture of it when we got to the beach. Speaking of the beach, Thalia does NOT like feeling of sand on her hands or her feet. We put her on a towel and she crawled to the edge. Once her hands got on the sand, she looked back at us and put her hands out and started crying! It was so cute! I took her to the ocean to see the waves, but that was a little scary. But we did wave to the surfers. I put her down so she could get her feet wet but the water was really cold and she didn’t like that either. Luckily YiaYia was there to rescue her from her terrible mother and they snuggled on the beach as we watched Uncle Toby and Uncle Barrett surf. Well, Uncle Toby surfed…Uncle Barrett kind of paddled around. But he gave it a valiant effort. We were all very proud of him. After lunch at In-n-Out Burger, our trip to the beach was complete.
Thalia is now in Michigan with her dad until Friday when they fly back down to Raleigh and Chris gets to stay for over a week! It will be nice to get to spend so much time together the last few weeks of the year.
Work has been pretty crazy. There are a lot of projects going on and a lot of uncertainty with jobs and responsibilities heading into next year. I knew it was going to be busy working on the Advair team – it is the largest brand for our company. I don’t think I realized how involved I would be in the busyness. The way my interview went, it sounded like I would be doing a lot of grunt work the first part of the rotation and get to be part of some fun projects at the end, kind of like a reward. Instead, I was pretty much pushed into the middle of the deep end without any floaties. The nice thing is that there is a lifeguard – my team. They have been very cognizant of my workload and ensuring I am not left out on a limb by myself. I’m not really complaining…I would rather be in the thick of things than just watching everyone else work. I just don’t think I was quite prepared to be given so much responsibility so early on. I think the bigger issue is that all this travel is eventually going to kill me. It’s important to me that Thalia get to see her extended family and that they get to see her, but I think Chris and I are going to have to have a serious discussion about the travel arrangements for next year. Unfortunately, with the holidays here and trips already planned, it is not going to get any easier in the short-term. Wish us luck!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are staying warm. LOADS of pictures to come in the very near future.
Very much love and a bit more sleep,
c, c, and t

boring update

hey all,

not much to report but i know some of you need to read something :o) i will lead off with the fact that it is currently 76 degrees in NC :oP sorry 'boutcha michigan! how's that snow?!

the weather is about the only bright thing going on. thalia is pretty sick. she has a terrible cough and was up most of the night. i guess the good thing is that she has had to cough all week and last night was the first night it kept us up. she is also hvaing a rough time teething. she has been crawling around with her monkey's paw in her mouth all weekend just chewing on it. i have been giving her her frozen teething rings and her juice cup. she likes to chew on the spout and hopefully the juice will help loosen her cough (yeah right).

i had a pretty rough week at work. just a lot of drama and working with outside people that do not share the same intensity or work ethic. the good news is that i have gotten to know a couple of the people i work with really well this week. so even though this week stunk, i am still really happy with my decision to come down here.

that's about all that's going on here. i went to the mall earlier and thalia was not having it. she kept taking her socks and shoes off and flipping around in her stroller...ugh! but we came back and she took a nap and we had some lunch. this afternoon i am going to the dollar store to make shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. its something that my church in michigan does, and as it turns out, the church i found down here does it too! i am excited to do that but we will see how much i get done with thalia crawling around trying to put all the toys in her mouth!

here's a picture for the road.

hope you all are staying warm and having a great weekend! only one more week and i get to spend the week in michigan and then off to san diego. we can't wait!!

much love and no sleep,

c, c, and t

pics from the weekend, etc

you guys get so feisty when i don't include pictures! here are a couple (terrible) pics from bluffton. aunt nikki promised to send the ones she took too.

here are some other cute pics, as a peace offering for my lack of updates last week. maybe you should only look at one at a time so that if i get busy again, you can look at a new pic each day :o)

look at my proper little princess. i was just trying to take a pic of her cute new shoes!
lately she keeps putting her ducky in her mouth and crawling around. i think it feels good to chew on with her tooth coming in.
thalia had to get bundled up the other day when it got down to the mid-30s in the morning on our way to school. isn't she the cutest?!
we are definitely at the point where thalia is between sizes. her six month pjs don't fit but as you can see, this 9 month number is a bit baggy!

two more:

one of thalia's bathrobes came with slippers. she doesn't quite know what to do with them.

this is thalia's new hat courtesy of yiayia. it's her "marley" hat because the top looks like dreadlocks. my mom has made her some fantastic hats! all the teachers at school comment on them. great job yiayia!!

much love and the hope for more sleep,

c, c, and t

truly blessed

oh man, am i in trouble! over a week with no updates!! i am surprised i haven't been getting any nasty emails!! i apologize...work is crazy busy and we were in indiana for the weekend so i didn't even look at a computer. i promise to try harder this week.
let me tell you how blessed and lucky my family is...this past weekend, thalia and i flew home to meet up with aunt nikki and uncle toby and drive down to indiana to see his parents with chris, aunt steph and uncle barrett. yes, it was crazy and i am still exhausted, but it was beyond worth it! toby's family is so wonderful and has embraced the mimikos/phillips/wimer clan with open arms. i swear toby's family loves thalia as much as my own! that little girl is one loved munchkin! even toby's grandma couldn't get enough of her! i feel so blessed to have so many people love my daughter across the country. It makes me happy to know that she is going to grow up with such a great support system...maybe that will lessen the damage done by her mom dragging her across the country to see everyone :o) but truly, we had a fantastic time hanging out in bluffton with all the reeds, affolders, and shulls. and "uncle" luke too! i am still surprised that everyone survived having all three mimikos girls in one place for an entire weekend!
thalia is such a trooper, letting me drag her around all the time. although i am pretty sure she likes the attention she gets everywhere we go. she is such a little ham. we have had some major breakthroughs the past few days though. most importantly, thalia has her first tooth! i am not even going to try to get a picture for you, unless she is asleep. that girl is such a goober! every time i try to get her to open her mouth, she sticks her tongue out! if you have seen one picture of thalia you shouldn't be surprised. i think she may be getting a top tooth too. i thought i saw something yesterday but when i tried to get my finger in there to see she squirmed away. i'll keep you posted.
thalia has also been standing up by herself lately. she will pull herself up to standing by the couch and then let go for a minute. it is so cute, but crazy! i mean, she is so tiny and to see her stand by herself, even if just for a few seconds, is just nuts! she'll probably be walking by the time we go to hawaii. although she will only be 10 months, so maybe not. we'll have to wait and see.
on a very happy note, thalia has been sleeping a little bit better the past few nights. she is still waking up to eat, which stinks. but it is every 3 or 4 hours and i am back in the habit of "sleep-nursing" when i don't really wake up fully. and i haven't had to wake up to put her pacifier back in since last week either. i know she should probably be over some of this at 8 months but the poor girl is still adjusting to traveling back and forth every other week. i think she is holding up remarkably well, and probably better than i am!
things are still going better than i thought they were going to. it is always tough playing the waiting game with chris' music. but chris and i have been communicating pretty well lately, which was not always our strong point. it is hard though having to defend my decision. let me say this...i am not delusional; i know that what i am doing is crazy and most people can't fathom being away from their husbands or wives. but this is an opportunity that God gave us and we couldn't pass it up. and yes it is hard, and yes we all miss each other. but thalia says good night to her daddy every night (along with everyone else in our families) and she smiles every time we talk about him. and whatever happens with my job or chris' music, our faith and love are strong enough to get us through to the other side. i know everything will be better than okay. and please don't minimize the role that you all play in our survival with your love, support, and prayers. we are eternally grateful for the families and friends we have, and like i said earlier, we are truly blessed by all of you.
alright, enough sob story (diane reed - wipe your eyes) we love you all and hope that we get to see some of you with the holidays coming up!

much love, more sleep, and lots of sappy insights,
c, c, and t

what a weekend!

whew! what a weekend we phillips girls had!! we did a lot, but we got some rest in too. nice change of pace.

thalia had a pretty uneventful first halloween, except when her mom kept trying to take pictures of her in her halloween bibs! what a turkey! the girl is a ham every other time. oh well. i think she is still cute!

she would not look at the camera!!

this one says "baby's first halloween" and has three dressed up bears on it

this one has a witch on it and you can't see it in the picture but the witch's feet dangle down and thalia kept putting them in her mouth. it was funny.

now on to what you are all wondering...enough with the bibs! what was thalia for halloween!! well, all i can say is, her last name is phillips...

would you believe chris actually picked this out at old navy LAST halloween and i think he has been counting down the days until she could wear it!! i think she looks adorable and silly and as you can see, she was loving it!

on saturday, thalia and i got bundled up for a "walk to cure juvenille diabetes." while i have no personal connection to juvenille diabetes, i am always up for supporting medical research, especially for kids. plus it gave thalia and i something to do and gave me a good excuse to get some good walking in. i definitely think my hormones have yet to re-regulate after being pregnant because i was so emotional waiting for the walk to start! there were all these huge groups of people with matching shirts walking for kids they knew with juvenille diabetes. some of them had cute team names like anna's angels and luke's lifesavers. sorry to be a sap, but it is so sad that so many people are affected by this. i was definitely glad to contribute my little part. here is thalia getting ready for our adventure:

i know i am biased, but is she not the most beautiful little girl you have ever seen?!

so after our 2.5 mile walk, i had the brilliant idea to meet our cousins elizabeth and sophia at the biggest mall in north carolina to WALK AROUND!!! needless to say i was pooped by the end of the day. but elizabeth and i had a great time hanging out and talking about the babies and life in general. the girls had fun it seemed, though they pretty much just got a free tour of the mall. they did share a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. thalia did really well with it. i tore it into small pieces and she moved it around her mouth a bit. she has a classic face whenever she gets a first bite of something, even stuff she has every day. it's pretty funny.

in case you didn't know, babies don't understand daylight savings time or its end. i did try to prepare for this by going to bed early last night but the texas/texas tech game was so good!! lo and behold at 615 this morning my daughter was wide awake. my body on the other hand can read the clock and was not so bushy tailed. but we played quietly and she took a nap around 9. i laid back down for a while but then the single-mom brain kicked in and i decided i should take a quick shower before she woke up. now she went to bed just before 7 so after extreme home makeover, it is bedtime for me. the good news is that i have to be up around 6 tomorrow am anyway.
ALSO this weekend, thalia got to try out her sippy cup. gamma (aka grandma donna) had given her a sippy cup with some juice when thalia stayed in michigan but i kept forgetting to get "baby" juice. then today i stopped at kroger and wouldn't you know, IT'S THE SAME DARN JUICE!!! my goodness. so i put some juice in her cup and diluted it with some water. i'll have to get a picture of her tomorrow (the camera was in the car). she did the same funny face she always does and really couldn't figure out what she thought about the whole thing. she cracks me up.

i think that is it. hey, i gave you fair warning that we had a crazy weekend. oh, and i think we finally found a church we like. good size, nice people, great worship. i am excited to go back in a couple weeks.

okay, that's it for real. sorry to keep you so long. i hope you enjoyed the pictures. more to come as always. thanks for your prayers and love and support. we couldn't survive like this without it.

much love and hopefully a little more sleep,

c, c, and t