Alphabitty Moments-G

Yes. I know. I am WAY behind on my Alphabitty Moments. I haven't done a new in what? Two months? Who knows? I can't even remember anymore. What I do know is that the next letter up is "G". For Isabelle "G" stands for Granddad. You see Granddad and Belli are big buddies. She pretty much owns him. He does what she wants when she wants (when I'm not around at least). Most of the time she prefers him over anybody else except for me. And even sometimes she does prefer him over me. If she asks me for something and I say no guess who she asks next. Yup, Granddad. So Granddad is it.

So What's Belli Been Up To?

In all of my Alabama obsessed posts I have not being paying as much blogging attention to my sweet Belli as I should be. So I wanted to give everyone and update on what Isabelle has been up to.

She is still hilariously funny.

Believe it or not she has actually been eating very well! Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised at her weight when she gets the halo off.

Speaking of getting the halo off we go for a CT scan on the 15th to find out if and when so send up some prayers!

We asked her earlier who was going to take her halo off (thinking she would say Dr. Rozzelle). Her response, "Santa Clause!" I hope so sweet girl! What a great Christmas present that would be.

When we go to The Bell Center tomorrow there might be people from CNN shooting video of Isabelle with the dogs from Hand in Paw. That is literally all of the information I know and I will post more details when I know more.

We've raised $1,756.70 for The Bell Center so far. You can click on the FirstGiving widget on my side bar to donate or click here for more information.

One of Belli's old PT's came by the house today to visit and she brought her adorable little boy, Ben, with her to play with Belli too. She adopted Ben a little over a year ago and we hadn't had a chance to meet him yet. He is just as adorable in real life as he is in all of the pictures I have seen on her blog. It was great to see both of them. They are also Auburn fans and she has taught him to stick his thumb down and say, "Boooo!" whenever he hears, "Roll Tide." It was too cute and funny for me to even care.

Ok, I think that's it. Please go donate to The Bell Center if you can! And I will let you guys know if I get anymore information about the CNN thing.

Alabama vs Florida- A History Lesson

Alabama has played in the SEC Championship game 6 times since it started in 1992. It will be 7 on Saturday. Each time they have played Florida. The records are as follows:

1992: Alabama 28-Florida 21. Alabama went on to beat Miami for the National Championship that season.

1993: Florida 28-Alabama 13.

1994: Florida 24-Alabama 23.

1996: Florida 45-Alabama 30. Florida beat the Florida State Seminoles later that year in the National Championship game.

1999: Alabama 34-Florida 7

2008: Florida 31-Alabama 20. The winner of this game was all but guaranteed a spot in the National Championship game. As you may know Florida won and again went on to win the National Championship game that year.

So I know life isn't all about taking turns and fairness. But it is totally our turn. Just saying.

Rammer Jammer History

For those of you who don't know The University of Alabama football team will be playing this Saturday against the Florida Gators for the SEC Championship and a spot in the National Championship game. We were in this spot last year and lost to Florida in that SEC game. Alabama fans were of course heartbroken and we have been waiting for this day since this time last year.

So, in preparation for the big game this whole week I will be posting Alabama facts and some videos everyday. I know, I know, most of you don't give a flip about Alabama football and will probably just skip these posts. But, that's ok! I'm sure there's at least one or two of you out there that might enjoy it.

So first up is a little history on the Rammer Jammer cheer. And blog friend of mine, Kate, told me the other day that she laughs every time she sees a one of my video's that I post or she see me post "Rammer Jammer" on my Twitter or Facebook. You see, Kate is from Canada and has no idea what Rammer Jammer means (or probably what Alabama football is for the matter). So I looked it up online and found this great explanation on Wikipedia:

The "Rammer Jammer Cheer" is a traditional and controversial cheer. The university briefly forbade the Million Dollar Band from playing it, on account of its taunting nature and its use of the word "hell" The move was met with a significant amount of criticism. In a vote at Homecoming 2005, the question was posed to students of whether the cheer should be banned. 98% of students voted in favor of keeping the cheer. Before the university's attempt to remove the cheer it was played before kickoff and at the end of the game. The cheer is now only played in the closing minutes when victory is certain, and is traditionally chanted twice. On at least one occasion (during Alabama's victory over Auburn in the 2008 Iron Bowl--Alabama's first in the series since 2001) it was repeated an additional three times. Fans cheer:

Hey Vols!
Hey Vols!
Hey Vols!
We just beat the hell out of you!
Rammer Jammer, Yellowhammer, give 'em hell, Alabama!

The nickname of the current opponent is substituted for "Vols", (short for Volunteers, the nickname for the University of Tennessee) except when the opponent is Auburn, in which case the name "Auburn" is used rather than its nickname of Tigers. Also, when the cheer was played before kickoff, fans would replace the lyrics "We just" with "We're gonna."

The lyrics originate from "The Rammer-Jammer," a student newspaper in the 1920s, and the yellowhammer, Alabama's state bird. The cadence of the cheer was adapted from the Ole Miss cheer "Hotty Toddy" after then Ole Miss marching band director Dr. James Ferguson was appointed director of the Million Dollar Band. The cheer was long referred to as "Ole Miss", and today the drum major's signal is still the motioning of one arm in a full circle (an 'O').

Author Warren St. John entitled his 2004 bestseller about obsessive sports fans Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer after the cheer.

So now you know what all those YouTube videos I post with thousands of people yelling "Rammer Jammer" are all about. And in honor of the Rammer Jammer cheer and to get in the "We're gonna kick Florida's a**" mood here is a video of Rammer Jammer from our stomping of Florida in 2005.

Five Question Friday

Even though it is a holiday weekend Mama M was still able to get Five Question Friday up and running! The questions this week are holiday themed. This will be Isabelle's third Christmas and probably the most fun one so far. She had a pretty good time last year but she was only 17 months and didn't totally get the whole opening the presents having fun thing. So, we are very excited this year! Here are Belli's answers for this week's Five Question Friday.

1. Do you do a real or fake Christmas tree?
I am not very particular but my mommy made sure that I had a real one for my first Christmas. Now I have a real one at my mommy's house and my daddy has a fake one. He hasn't put it up yet so I don't know if he will use that one or get a real one.

2. What is your favorite Christmas tradition with your family?
I haven't really had a lot of time to have a favorite tradition. My first two Christmases (and this year as well) have all been in different houses under different circumstances. But, my mommy's favorite Christmas tradition is Christmas Eve at her aunt's house.

3. Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? If so, how many calories do you think you consumed yesterday?
I had an 80 calorie cup of yogurt for dinner. I refused everything else. See this post if you want to know why.

4. Have you started decorating for Christmas yet?
Not yet but we plan on doing it by Sunday. My aunt is in town until Monday morning so we have to do it before she leaves. We don't want to leave her out!

5. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?
So far chocolate chip seems to be the best. I don't think that's really a Christmas cookie though.

Thankfulness

This will be a relatively short post as I am extremely full from all of the yummy food that I have had today and therefore very sleepy! However, before I turn in for the night I wanted to write a little bit about thankfulness.

I believe that this is the first Thanksgiving in my 23 years of life that I have actually understood what it means to be thankful. Now don't get me wrong...I know the definition of "thankful." And in the past whenever people would ask me what I was thankful for this year I would give the typical answer of family, a roof over my head, food to eat, etc. Now those are all things to be thankful for because at this time when our economy is so bad there are so many people in the world that do not have those things to be thankful for. But, after the past few months and the trials that I have been through with Belli I have come to understand a deeper meaning of the word "thankful."

I am so thankful that Isabelle is here with me now that I don't even know how to put it into words. There was a time shortly after I found out she had to have the fusion that the fear of her not being here was so overwhelming it was hard to get out of bed. But there she was. Every morning waking up yelling, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy." And after both of her surgeries she was still here yelling, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy," every morning without fail. There are times when I think, "If you say yell my name one more time there is going to be a mommy shaped whole in our front door." But then I snap back in to reality and know how blessed I am that she is even here yelling my name.

Since I have started this blog I have come across so many others who cannot say that they hear their child calling their name in the morning. There are so many evils out there like cancer, heart disease, genetic disorders, and accidents that take children's lives everyday. I have been blessed enough to have not fallen in to that category.

So this year I will simply be thankful for my child. Because I know how easily she could not be here. And I am so blessed, and so thankful that she is.

Five Question Friday

Mama M's Five Question Friday is here! Belli says...

1. Are you a Black Friday shopper?
Absolutely not. I talk to way too many strangers so my mommy doesn't like to bring me places where there are going to be a TON of people to talk to.

2. What was your favorite childhood toy?
My mommy's Fisher Price house and barn with the little people and the farm animals. It is sooooo old, but way cool.

3. Favorite Christmas move?
I have never seen a Christmas movie but mommy is going to let me watch them this year!

4. What is the must have on your Christmas list this year?
A Kettler Happy Navigator Tricycle. "Santa" delivered it to the house today but I can't have it until Christmas.

5. Do you go all out with decorations or do you keep it simple?
I like to keep it simple. The less things I have a chance to break the better!