Busy Busy!

alright uncle bobert and diane! time to get off my back - here is your update! ;o)

we have been so busy - i know i say that all the time but it's true. in april, chris or i were traveling 17 of the 30 days. in may, it is 25 of 31. 25! the only time that chris, thalia, and i will all be in our house at the same time in may will be next week, monday through friday. that's it! isn't that nutty?! it's okay though. thalia and i got to spend almost a week in ABQ with yiayia and papou, AND we get to spend 2 weeks in michigan in may, which is fantastic; AND iamdynamite is doing really well on its mini-tour. luckily i am finally starting to feel better! we'll see if it lasts...with thalia there was about a month where i felt great, and then it was back to misery the last two. i guess this would be a good time to give you a coco update:

here is baby coco - 25 1/2 weeks along! time is both flying by and standing still. i was laughing at myself after i took this picture and i realized it still hasn't fully sunk in that i am going to have another baby. i know - duh! probably due to the fact that it took us so long to get preggers - just isn't real yet. i am really starting to feel coco kick and wiggle. i noticed earlier this week that you can see her (oh yeah, did i tell you? we're having another girl) kick - my belly moves now! too funny. as far as i know, everything is progressing fine. i have to do my glucose test next week to test for gestational diabetes - not expecting anything to come from that. OH! on a funny note, it was recommended to me yesterday that i put coco's name down for needing day care in NOVEMBER! apparently the infant room at thalia's school has a waiting list for the rest of the summer, so i need to put coco's name on a list somewhere so that she has a spot when i go back to work 6 months from now! too funny - i feel like i am on a sitcom!!

alright, enough about me - i'm sure you want to hear about thalia. my little ham has definitely been keeping me laughing and on my toes. we have been having a lot of fun, just us girls...but every morning she asks where her daddy is. it's too cute. yesterday we played in the rain:

it has been storming off and on for the past few days and she loves to just stand out there in the rain and run around.

last weekend we went and picked strawberries. what a blast - it actually held her attention longer than i expected! at this point she was just getting into it, but not really convinced she was having a good time. after a few sweet strawberry sneaks, she was ALL about it: if you look closely, you can see strawberry juice running down her arm AND down her neck!

alrighty, that's all i have time to update for now. new hippo picture, and a slideshow of our travels on its way soon!

much love and some sleep,

c, c, and t

we're back!! (again!!)

not to worry - we haven't gone anywhere. ha! almost literally. most of my days are spent laying on the couch, not moving. i'll get to that in a minute. so many things to update! we'll start with little t-bone...

can you believe little is 3 years old?! we had a wonderful birthday party. let me rephrase...we had FIVE birthday parties. we spent the weekend before her birthday in michigan where we celebrated three times - pics of most of the cakes to come. then we came back down here and i made cupcakes for her day care class, and then dinner with some great friends. it was a busy week, but we felt really blessed to be able to celebrate with so many special and important people!

we took thalia to the doctor this week for her 3 year check up: i HAD to be the dorky mom taking a picture of her kid...just look at how adorable the little blood pressure cuff is!! she was such a big girl - did everything the MA asked her to, even answered questions from the PA. 3 going on 13 i swear. chris and i had been betting on if she would hit the 30lb mark. the official verdict - close but no cigar. 28.8lbs and 36" tall: about 25% for both. guess she got my genes :o)

aside from birthday parties and check ups, t-bone is nearly fully potty trained! just like everyone said, after all the time and methods we tried, one day it just clicked. we still put her in pull-ups at night, but i think most of that is because we had just bought a ton. she usually wakes up dry.

we've also been spending a lot of time with our friends greg and jacquie and their boys andrew and ryan (ryry). they finally got relo'd and are settling in to a great house that is almost right around the corner from us. we went over there for dinner the other day - thalia had a ton of fun playing with the boys...and being a goofball for mr. greg and his iphone app.

the following weekend we took them to the museum of life and science in durham. this place is so cool...i've posted pictures before.
one of thalia's favorite activities is this volume exhibit. she loves putting the beads in the different containers and dumping them everywhere!

then we went outside to the farm and thalia and ryry held hands. it was so adorable!!

other than that, i got a new job that i started on february first in gsk's epilepsy marketing department. i really like my new team and i get to combine what i was doing before with some really new and innovative fun projects. it's been going very well and is usually less stressful than my previous job, which is a good thing.

oh yeah...and there's that little thing about FINALLY being preggers again! it took us so long to get here - and no time at all for me to feel worse than i did with thalia. for those of you who were around then, you know that means no fun. hence the laying on the couch most days. i am 16 weeks and due on my birthday (just like stephie)! i have my next check up on thursday, and should schedule the ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby after that :o)

ps...i definitely "popped" way earlier this time this is from a few weeks ago during a first trimester screening. look at it kicking its legs out!! by the way, this fetus' nickname is coco. thalia still wants to call it sarah, but i told her we needed to name it something else in case it is a boy. her response: "how 'bout chocolate milk?!" so aunt stephie shortened it to coco and that's that.

alright, that's enough for now. more pics and more frequent posts, i promise. much, much, much, much love!!

c, c, t, and coco

ready for christmas!

it was so much easier updating this thing when i only had one computer that all my pics were on! oh, the cons of actually living with your hubbie ;o)

anyway, we have been getting ready for christmas, and thalia is loving the decorations. it's hard to get her to keep her hands off!

we've also put up the advent calendar that yiayia made...gosh, i don't remember...i think the date on the bottom of the calendar is 89 or somethign like that. thalia has had a blast putting the ornaments on...although she hasn't quite got the hang of the word ornament. so last night she said "can we put another christmas on?" took me a few tries to figure out what in the world she was saying.

we've gotten a few gifts that have come wrapped in bubble wrap...which thalia LOVES trying to pop. i love the look on her face!! papou taught her how to jump on the wrap which she also does. surprisingly we haven't had any major wipe outs doing that!

a few weeks ago we took thalia to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Love that show! we had great seats, and we took thalia's "ears" so it wouldn't be too loud. she's been telling everyone about the singing and lasers and "it was really, really, really loud!" :o)

We also had our first snow of the year...which is ridiculously early! We've actually had 2 snows this month already! this was the first one. i of course was taking the snow for granted because i had things i needed to do. thalia on the other hand just wanted to stand in the driveway all day. so i bundled her up and we stood in the driveway. it was a really great reminder of the wonder of a child...and how happy snow still makes me...even if i am a grinch about it sometimes!

we had a lovely thanksgiving with everyone in town. unfortunately, those pictures are on my desktop at home and i am avoiding work at work :o) i'll put those up tomorrow. i'm also going to try to put up pictures from our trips to michigan tomorrow. almost all of those are on the desktop too. there are some sweet, sweet pictures of thalia, me and stella! just wait! (i know, i know...you've been waiting for MONTHS now!)

oh, one more christmas story - the other night we went out to eat at a mexican restaurant. the waiter said "feliz navidad" when he gave us the bill. thalia replied "fee-leaks mommy-dad" chris and i were dying! then yesterday i asked her to say it again and it became "fee-leaks mommy-and-dad" you can't make this stuff up! what a true blessing she is - hopefully there aren't any doubts out there that she won't live up to her name (inspiration of comedy!)

i hope you all have a wonderful week!

much love and less sleep (stupid night terrors AND chris setting off the house alarm!)

c, c, and t

happy birthday kelsey!!

many of you probably remember thalia's dear first friend kelsey. they were in the same class when thalia and i first moved down here. kelsey has since moved to a different school, but amy and i try to get the girls together often. well, a few weeks ago kelsey turned 3, and we got to go to her birthday party. the two munchkins were SO excited to see each other. it was great. in fact, after cake, kelsey kept asking thalia to help her open her gifts! talk about sweet friendship! i don't think my best friend would EVER let me NEAR her gifts ;o) (love you jillian!)
the girls have been sharing silly bands...this is them showing how many they have on their arms while playing with kelsey's new art set.
what a cheeseball i have for a daughter
thalia helping open gifts
ha! i just realized these pics are in reverse order! we were trying to get a pic of the two of them in birthday hats but they weren't cooperating.
thalia eating some Cars birthday cake. kelsey is a girl after my own heart - she couldn't decide between butterflies and Cars, so she had butterfly decorations and a Cars themed cake!
kelsey also wanted thalia to help blow her candle out. adorable!
we had a great time. i am so glad that the girls remember each other and have such fun together. it's really incredible to watch.

while i was typing this post, i noticed i had a draft post in my box. wouldn't you know it - its from our playdate with kelsey and amy at the park over the summer. who knows how it didn't make it to actually be posted, but these are some of my favorite park pictures!

they LOVED this tire swing. they were cackling and squealing. it was great
there are about 15 of these - me trying to get them to stand together for a picture and them blowing me off
this is my favorite. look at her pigtails! this was a really big slide and a tunnel the whole way down. but she climbed up there and went down like she was a big kid. we spent most of our time here.

anyway, we are so blessed by kelsey and amy. more pics to come as they grow older together.

as for a real update - we have been super busy. who knew that being home together could actually make you MORE busy than when you travel! this weekend i'll do a big november update. and who knows...maybe i'll eventually get the pics from october up here!

much love and more sleep (now that thalia's night terrors have stopped!),
c, c, and t

trick or treat!

the trick is that this is the longest post ever! the treat is you get lots of pictures of thalia. i think that's fair ;o)

wow! i had way more pictures from last weekend than i remembered!! what a fantastic halloween weekend we had!
thalia and i carved our pumpkins on tuesday night before chris got back from texas. she jumped right in there and started picking out the seeds! i was so surprised. we baked them and she was eating them hand over fist. again - totally surprised. it was fun doing that with her, and then she even posed for me with both of them.
she's actually kind of smiling too! yet another shocker :o)
on friday afternoon, thalia's class at school had a little halloween "party" for their afternoon snacks. i took some time off of work and we took thalia. this is a picture of thalia and om. they have been in the same class for almost the entire time we've been down here. it's been really great watching him grow up with thalia!
we were lucky enough that thalia got an orange frosted cupcake! most of the kids got black (i don't know who thought it would be a good idea to bring a bunch of 2 year olds black frosted cupcakes!!). she basically licked all the frosting off and handed me the cake.
that night, we went to a work party, and had a blast!
now for those of you who haven't heard the story yet - i did NOT plan on us all coordinating for halloween. halloween is usually not my thing, so when jillian was in town the other day, we went shopping to find thalia a cute costume. nothing was really speaking to us...they were all kind of generic. but then, we turned the corner and we saw it. a hamburger! to any other family, this would have been pushed aside for the fairy princess. but not for the phillipses!! chris and martin had actually found a mustard costume at this thrift store back in september. they bought the matching ketchup outfit and took it on their fall "tour." when i saw the hamburger, i knew we were going to be the best dressed family ever!
my friend denise brought her daughter morgan to the party. thalia wore her out! she had these purple fishnet arm socks that thalia loved.
then on saturday, we went to see the carolina railhawks pro soccer team try to win their first ever championship.
i was surprised how well thalia did. we stayed for just about the full game! the railhawks unfortunately didn't win - but we got to eat some great hole in the wall barbecue and support the local team anyway! if you look closely, you can see that thalia's lips are totally purple. turns out she gets the same purple goatee as aunt steffie and aunt nikki when she is cold! we busted out the blankets after we took the picture and she was great.
finally sunday came! yes, thalia has worn her candy corn shirt about every other day since we got it :o)
thalia was so excited to have lollies to pass out to the kids - even though i'm not convinced she really knew what we were doing.
i couldn't help but take a picture of this! she took her pumpkin bowl, went to the pantry, and put ramen in it! only my daughter!!
you'll notice in this picture that chris and i have switched costumes. i could not find my other yellow tshirt to save my life. (couldn't have anything to do with the fact that we hadn't done laundry in over a week!) so chris got to be mustard and i was ketchup.
this was actually chris' first halloween with thalia. usually the band has a show, but since they had just gotten back from texas they decided to take the weekend off. so i sent chris trick or treating with thalia and stayed home to pass out candy. good thing chris had cargo pockets on his shorts! he had to keep dumping out thalia's bag so she could get more candy!
whew! what a weekend! we had a great time as a family though! and wait til you hear what we did this weekend!

much love and more sleep,
c, c, and t

quick catch up

i just sat down to check on today's weather forecast and stumbled across some pictures i am pretty sure i never posted...so here ya go :o) don't worry - all the halloween pics AND the pics from our fall trips are coming soon too. consider this a small victory :o)

as you may remember, chris spent most of september traveling. mahoney played two fall music festivals on consecutive weekends. so thalia and i had plenty of time to ourselves. usually i feel bad when chris comes home to a messy house and nothing fun done. i know, it's a crazy thought. i mean, i'm watching thalia for pete's sake! how much can i do?! ;o) anyway, one weekend i saw an ad in bed bath and beyond's circular for bar stools. we have had our bar for YEARS without any bar stools. and of course, i decided it would be a good idea to build them (all 3 of them) while thalia was still awake. she actually was pretty good at turning the allen wrench. then she lost interest when her movie came on. just this weekend chris made a comment about "how many pieces could there have been?" - implying that i just magically picked the fully assembled chairs out of some ginormous box! i then explained to him how the entire thing came in pieces - i think i counted 10 pieces for each chair.

HA! i literally just remembered the funniest part of this whole story. when i was taking all the pieces out of the box, thalia grabbed the instructions. i asked her to read them to me and honest to god, this is what she said "it says 'build me a new chair'" oh my gosh, i was crying i was laughing so hard. anyway, here is thalia on "her" new chair

the following weekend...well, i guess the same day i bought the chairs, i also bought some window treatment things for an idea i had. i was only able to get the chairs done the one weekend, so the following weekend, i braved hanging curtains all by myself. i waited til thalia was taking a nap this time! i basically bought "tie backs" that are supposed to go on the sides of windows to hold curtains open. instead, i put them up top and used them to drape this beautiful fabric that has been floating around my and yiayia's possession for years.

thalia woke up just in time to have yet another shirtless picture taken of her! :o)
anyway, hope you enjoyed those. now it's off to work. hope you have a great week!!

much love and less sleep (i'm still adjusting to having chris home and taking my covers!)
c, c, and t

fun fall weekend

what an incredible weekend we had! while thalia is definitely getting tired of only having me around, and misses her daddy, we made the most of the beautiful weather this weekend! on saturday, we went to the museum of life and science with the copelands. what fun we have with them! the museum had a halloween-themed weekend...though aside from getting a plastic spider ring, we didn't do ANY thing that was special to the weekend. a bunch of kids dressed up in their halloween costumes. i at least had thalia in a halloween t-shirt! we went in a butterfly house, and saw a ginormous cow and other farm animals. we saw a space exhibit and a weather exhibit. then we went outside to see the dinosaurs! they have a fossil dig there, where they have a bunch of tiny shells and coral, and kids (and parents) can dig to find them. of course thalia and i found the first shark tooth! then we went on a train ride through the woods and into a tunnel. whew! and that was all before noon!!
chase showing off his "find" our shark tooth!
thalia, benton and chase playing with balls and chutes
we stopped (finally - mr dan took us on an extended tour of the northgate mall parking lot!) at chick-a-fil for lunch, which is always a treat. yes, i know it's really chick-fil-a...but martha momma said it wrong when they first moved down here and the wrong name has stuck. we even have thalia saying chick-a-fil now! anyway, thalia's kids meal came with a waffle fry the size of her head! all in all, a great day with our friends!
oh, and after a slight mishap got her pants went, i put thalia in this adorable little skirt to run to sam's club. she of course didn't want to take her candy corn shirt off AND found one of yiayia's "bedhands"...so this is how we started off going to sam's: by the time we got there, she had fallen asleep so i managed to take the headband off. hey! the shirt and skirt both had orange and pink on them! ;o)

then today, thalia started using her pull-ups box as a stool. she has actually been moving this really old yellow stool all around upstairs (really old as in it used to be mine!) she'll move it from our bathroom to our bed to by the TV. so now she has been doing it with the pull-ups box. she used it to help "scoop" pancakes this morning and to get a drink of water this afternoon. yes, i let her wear the skirt again today!
also today, we went to pick pumpkins! well, i thought we were going to get to pick them off the vine. instead, we just picked them out of a group. but it was still fun taking thalia...especially since the farm is right down the road. she picked out a little one for her, and a big one for me! we also got some great red potatoes for beef stew later this week. yummmmmy!
did anyone else notice this supermodel "copping a lean" pose in that last picture?! if you are the culprit who taught my daughter that move, please step forward. who does that?! what a total clown!!

anyway, that was our weekend. somehow we survived without aunt stephie, uncle barrett, stella, daddy and gamma. not sure how, but we did it! now it's off to bed and prayers for a great day tomorrow.

much love and less sleep (i always have weird dreams when chris is gone for a long time)
c, c, and t