3:2

that is the ratio of thalia's days at school versus how many incident reports she has!! is that crazy?! i mean, really! 2 in 3 days!! what the heck! yesterday i wasn't as happy as monday. she is in this 'in-between' class, i guess to help her transition...and i just don't like the teacher as much. plus i feel like she is going backwards. she did just find hanging out with the big kids all day monday. when i got there after work yesterday, the teacher told me about thalia's finger (when they were outside some kid ran it over with something) and it looked a little pink and scratched but no big deal. YEAH RIGHT! tonight i looked at it and she essentially has a hole in her finger!! her poor tiny finger has this huge scab on it! it looks awful!!! not to mention that when i picked her up today she had ANOTHER incident report. apparently no one was watching her outside and she was by some steps, missed one and ate the pavement. so now the poor thing has a huge raspberry on the side of her forehead! good grief! she did better with the big kids!
i don't think she is going to be in this 'in-between' classroom for very long. she DEFINITELY won't be in there much longer if i keep picking up an incident report every time i pick up my child. in 7 months at childtime she had ONE incident report and its because she scratched herself!! not only is all of this happening, but i haven't seen the director all week. maybe she is on vacation. i am really feeling like i need to talk to her. hopefully she will be back tomorrow. i swear...if thalia gets hurt again tomorrow, i might flip out.
sigh...stayed tuned for an update on thalia's medical records! ;o) i need to clean up and go to sleep. its been a long day and tomorrow is destined to be even longer. at least we are going to go see martha mama tomorrow! and then we head back to michigan on saturday. i know...i'm running myself into the ground. at least i'm young...for now. until i am done with this rotation and i have aged 10 years!!! i'll be okay, i promise
much love and a bit of sleep,
c, c, and t

all grown up

so thalia survived, actually thrived, on her first day at her new school. i think she must have done better than i did. i was pretty anxious for her. i mean, not only was it a new school, but it was her first day with the bigger kids too. but she made a lot of new friends, and her friend kelsey from childtime will be there tomorrow. i bet thalia will be excited to see her. her new teachers were all very impressed that she adjusted so well. that's my girl. it was weird walking out this morning after dropping her off...i was all nostalgic about how complicated it used to be taking thalia to school. at first i just brought bottles. then they started feeding her breakfast, so i would measure out her cereal and her fruit and make bottles. then they started feeding her dinner too! so i had to make breakfast, dinner, and bottles. a few months ago she started eating lunch there, and then lunch and breakfast - long story short, i didn't have to pack as much stuff. now she doesn't even need bottles made. i walk her into daycare with only her in my arms instead of a bag of food and bottles!
other than the anxiety of thalia's second first day at school (i know...i have many, many more of these to come!) the pollen has finally calmed down around here. it was the weirdest thing i had ever since. it was like someone clapped yellow chalk dust out of a million erasers! it was everywhere! you could see it in the air, it was on everyone's car, it was tracked into the office. it was so bizarre...then it rained and it was swirling around in all the puddles. gross! it was like super mutant ninja turtles slime!! thank goodness it didn't trigger any allergies!!
here are a few new pictures for you...apparently my daughter has a knack for sitting in things...
i like the action shot of her kicking her feet! so silly!!
we had a wonderful easter weekend. we got to visit with a lot of family (mostly chris' side but greek easter is this sunday so we'll make up for it). thalia is learning how to kepp gamma's attention when madilynn is around. we are trying to teach thalia about "gentle" but i don't think its working. we tried taking some pictures of the girls in their easter dresses...i think jen got a good one. as soon as she sends them to me i will put them on here.
until then, we love you and miss you all. this back and forth travel is getting really old. keep praying for us.
much love and much sleep,
c, c, and t

sad day...

today was thalia's last day at her daycare :o( her center is closing next week, and chris is taking her back to michigan with him on monday. so today was her last day with her dear teacher, ms. alice... thalia loved her ms. alice...she went right to her every morning and could always get ms alice to laugh. ms alice took great, great care of my little one and we will miss her dearly. i have her email address though, so i think i may set up some playdates with ms alice, thalia and her little friend kelsey. speaking of kelsey, she and thalia are switching to the same new daycare. it is only a few dollars more a week, which i think is very much worth having the two of them stay together.

ms alice got thalia a few going away gifts, so to show ms alice how grateful i am for her, i made her this... the funny thing is that i bought the wrong kind of marker, so it wouldn't dry! even overnight!! so yesterday morning i ran to lowe's (thank goodness it opens at 7am!!!) and bought a can of clearcoat spray paint. luckily it worked great, so the notes on the front and back of the vase won't rub off. hey, my friend leticia may be able to create beautiful cakes, but i think i can put together some pretty good floral arrangements and gift baskets!! maybe tiece and i should go into business together!...may require us to live in the same state though ;o)

by the way, thalia has cut THREE new teeth, not two. now she has three on the bottom all in a row, and two on the top with a space between them. it is so funny looking. the good news is that after almost a week of not sleeping, thalia has slept through the night the past two nights in a row! and even better, thalia's daddy flew in for the weekend and tomorrow we are heading to the lake for a picnic lunch with elizabeth and cousin sophia! eat your hearts out phillips/krugers!! :oP

much much much love and more sleep,

c, c, and t

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