Clubb House

Boy Crazy

2012-02-12T07:43:00.000-06:00

Right now we are boy crazy in this house...

The Merriest Christmas

2011-12-28T22:20:00.000-06:00

This was the Merriest Christmas I have ever had. I LOVED being at home and spending a cozy day with my sweet little family. Santa was extremely kind to Neely Jo this year and my floors are proof of it. There is not a square foot in this house that hasn’t been littered with toys, books or clothes. It is a tad bit out of control.

After waking up and seeing her kitchen set, Neely Jo wasn’t too interested in opening any other gifts. She seemed to be more content opening the cabinets over and over again while Derrick and I unwrapped presents. Maybe we will have better luck next year with her involvement.

Overall we had a wonderful Christmas and were able to realize how truly blessed we are! Hope everyone enjoyed the Holiday as much as we did!!!

Everything from Halloween up to Christmas

2011-12-20T17:24:00.002-06:00

Well...once again things have been crazy over here and I have neglected my blog. I have saved up some vacation for the last part of the year so HOPEFULLY I will be better about keeping up with our Christmas. Fingers crossed.

Our Halloween...

We made a quick trip up to my parents so we could see Katie and the kids before they packed up and moved to Texas. We had a pumpkin, a kitten, a puppy and a Granny with lots of candy.

Daycare also had a Fall Festival with lots of games for the kids. Neely Jo was a tad bit too little to play most so I thought we would get her face painted. Wrong.

But she did enjoy digging for toys in the sand...

She did not enjoy the taste of the sand...

Our Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving was a total blur. All I know is Neely Jo slept through the meal, I ate entirely too much turkey and dressing and the tryptophan caught up with me quick. I curled up and took a long snooze on Momma’s couch and missed the whole day. That would be why there are zero pictures of the meal. But we did make it to the Paramount for the Festival of Trees.

One of my personal favorites...

Now I'm all about Cinderella, but this scared me a little bit...

Neely Jo’s Teeth...

Earlier this month we had to take Neely Jo to the hospital to have the procedure on her teeth. I was a nervous wreck. We thought she would be asleep for two hours but they actually finished up early which is perfectly fine with me. Neely’s dentist, Dr. Barbee, is absolutely one of my favorite people right now. He is so wonderful with Neely and he did a great job on her teeth (that is based on all of my extensive knowledge of teeth - they are are white and in her mouth so what more can you ask for?). And he called a couple of times over the weekend from his personal cell phone to check on her. I love that. The only thing I am disappointed in is that we will not be able to send out the Christmas cards of Neely with a caption reading “All I Want for Christmas if My Two Front Teeth”. I was totally looking forward to that.

Christmas with My Parents...

I went to Florida last week for work and because Derrick has such a busy schedule with basketball, Neely got to spend the week with my parents. She is pretty much ruined now. A week of having Chewmomma and Dad-Dad in your face 24/7 catering to your every need apparently will do that. When Neely finally saw me she looked at me like I was dog meat and started crying for Chewmomma (who was doing her very best not to smile and bust out into a victory dance, but I am pretty sure she was giving herself high-fives in the next room). After four days of non-stop shopping and errand running, Chewmomma looked exhausted from packing the lil bit-bug all over the place on her hip. Who’s laughing now??? (I’m high-fiving myself).

This past Sunday, the children were in charge of the church service. Bless their hearts. They were absolutely adorable. Neely decided to really get into the service by running upfront and dancing while the kids sang different Christmas songs.

This is our cousin Eli. He is seriously one of the cutest and sweetest little boys I have ever been around. Love him!

More cousins (Chase, Abbie, Hannah, Neely Jo and Eli)...

Neely Jo did get to be in the Christmas Nativity this year as an Angel. Chewmomma was in the choir and I am pretty sure Neely was trying to get to her when she decided to jump off the stage and landed on her back. She is actually fine but she screeched like a banshee all the way down the church aisle. I am sure this year’s video was able to capture her lungs at their finest. And now the family is calling her the Fallen Angel. We are so proud.

Oh! I almost forgot. Neely Jo had her first Happy Meal and loved it. This was a life event I’m sure. The start of our child’s addiction to McDonalds.

Rewriting a Story

2011-10-12T22:20:00.000-05:00

One of Neely’’s presents that I absolutely love is this sweet Three Little Pigs set.

While cousin Amelia was here this toy saw a lot of action. The pigs were constantly on the run from the Big Bad Wolf, who was huffing and puffing all over the place. Neely Jo hasn’t really paid much attention to this little set but our cat, Winks, seems to be curious. I woke up and found the poor thing with the second Little Pig’s house stuck on her head. She was crying bless, bless her heart. Now we eat an astronomical amount of pork products in this house so I figure Winks just wanted to see what all the fuss was about and was trying to get at that second piggy. So now when I tell the story to Neely Jo the Big Bad Wolf will be replaced by the Pork Hungry One Eyed Cat.

Enjoying a Sick Day

2011-10-11T21:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I got a pone call from daycare that Neely was running a fever and that I needed to pick her up. Luckily the call came in at 4:45. Since she has to be fever free for 24 hours I got to keep her home with me today. Thankfully she didn’t run a fever all day and she seems to be feeling fine so it will be back to the grind tomorrow. I am very thankful that we had a good day. I would love to be a stay at home mom and I absolutely adored getting to spend the day with my baby girl. And I am sure she adored getting to spend the day with her birthday presents. She made sure to chew on each and every one of them.

I also LOVE to cook so I made chicken and dumplings from scratch. I was thinking Neely Jo would enjoy that seeing how it seems to make everyone feel better when they are sick. Nope. She ate carrots and blueberries. Spit the chicken out and smashed the dumplings into a creamy paste all over her high chair. Seriously. This meal was a process to make. I spent 3 hours cooking it and even went out and bought a dutch oven for the ordeal. The good news is that Derrick ate enough to make up for it.

Neely Jo's Birthday Weekend

2011-10-09T21:32:00.001-05:00

This weekend we had Neely Jo’s birthday party with family. We were so excited that my parents were able to come in from Ashland and Katie and the kids came up from Atlanta. Derrick’s Mom and his sister’s family also joined us for the party. It was a really sweet little day and we are so happy that we both have family that helped us make it a special party for Neely Jo.

Amelia Kate making sure Neely Jo took a good look at her presents...

Jack organizing the magnets...

Eating flowers...

After the party, everyone seemed to be a little jacked up on sugar so the best place to run around like wild hyenas is of course...Jacksons! And it didn’t hurt any the Jack is a little obsessed with pumpkins right now and Amelia has been “praying the word of God for a zebra”. Both of these things are at Jacksons along with pork burgers and apple cider floats. Everybody wins. Especially if Grandpa (Dad-Dad) will buy you a ride on pony.

Jack riding Flash...

Amelia riding Mr. Peaches...

It's been a long day...but the work week is half over

2011-10-05T21:45:00.000-05:00

I had to get up early for work this morning and work late this evening. It has been a LONG day. And tomorrow is looking to be even longer. When I got home Neely Jo was already tired, cranky and needed to go straight to bed. I played with her for a few minutes until she looked like she was going to absolutely rub her eyes clean off of her face. Then Derrick cuddled her up and she was knocked plum out. It breaks my heart on the days I don't get to spend much time with her. BUT I do have a little "happy" from school today. Neely Jo was the "Student of the Week". Now seeing how I worked late and Derrick picked her up I have NO CLUE what exactly that means. Or how it is decided upon. Or if there will be a parade in her honor (pretty sure that last one is a negative, but wouldn't that be nice?). Anyway, here is my "happy"...

Happy Four Year Anniversary!

2011-10-04T20:18:00.000-05:00

Tonight Derrick and I are celebrating our Four Year Anniversary. Since he is on fall break he cleaned the house, did the laundry and cooked dinner. Life is pretty sweet!

And so is this video he made me as part of my present...

Neely Jo's 1st Birthday

2011-10-03T21:05:00.000-05:00

Tonight we celebrated Neely Jo’s 1st Birthday!!! We are having a family get together this weekend, so tonight was just the three of us and it was perfect.

We gave Neely her big present tonight...her rocking horse. Meet Big Brown, named after our favorite (because he was the best ever) Derby Winner. Neely Jo is loving Big Brown. We may need to run out and buy her a helmet because she is slightly aggressive. She will have to tone it WAY down if she ever wants to be a jockey. (The pictures are all fuzzy...but the first one is my favorite.)

Her birthday cake was a carrot cake because, well, the girl loves all things orange. Carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkins (and maybe even UT football one day). I am just going to go ahead and say that I was completely unprepared for this cake eating business. I kinda was thinking she would sit there and eat her cake, bow in her hair and I thought it would get messy, but I had no idea. It started off pretty...

And then it got funny...

And then it was a little out of control...

And then I was just down right scared....

Luckily, Derrick volunteered to give her a bath. That water had so much icing in it is was like milk. And PS...I know I should probably stop using that infant tub, but it is about the only way I can contain her. Otherwise she dunks her head in the water, slips and slides all over and don’t even get me started on the dangers of her dancing in the tub.

After all the cake we got to see what the view was like from Sugar Heaven. Neely Jo was 100% W-I-L-D. I almost called my sister to see how long a sugar high lasts. She is a nurse. She should know stuff like that. She probably should have been here to help.

And finally she is asleep. Snug as a bug. It was a good day.

And this is all that's left. Cake eating is a messy business.

Catching Up...Once Again

2011-10-02T21:33:00.001-05:00

I have seriously turned into the worst mom. I have not been keeping up with Neely Jo’s comings and goings nearly as well as I should have been. She is turning a year old tomorrow and I honestly don’t know where the time has gone. Quickest recap in the history of the world...

At Neely’s nine month well check we found out that she did in fact have an enamel deficiency soooo we had to start taking her to the pediatric dentist. In an attempt to keep from putting her to sleep and have her baby teeth worked on, we are brushing and brushing and then brushing some more. The child just cut her sixth tooth last week and so far it is looking good. The plus side is that LOVE our dentist and the staff is WONDERFUL. And even id Neely screams in their face sometimes, she is happy when they give her a rubber ducking (who has a toothbrush, toothpaste and big set of pearly whites).

At daycare she has started a gang. Or at least that is what Derrick says. She and another little boy have started hitting the other kids. And she also tells the other children “Eh! Eh!” when they get into the cabinets and if they don’t stop she swats their hands. At first I was really embarrassed but now I am considering asking daycare if they can add her onto the payroll as the disciplinarian because if she is going to do it she might as well get paid for it. And then maybe I wouldn’t feel so bad about it.

She isn’t walking on her own yet, but she is cruising around and into EVERYTHING. This morning she came barreling out of the bathroom with a q-tip in each hand and one hanging out of her mouth. She is saying Ma-Ma and Da-Da, Hi and Bye, and Uh-Oh on her own and is trying to repeat new words everyday. She is sadly going through a bit of a phase (hopefully) where she likes to slap people across the face. We are spanking her for this and sometimes it turns into a slap-off match, but I always win in the end. Until I get slapped again.

And since it is fall, we have been hitting up Jackson's Apple Orchard...

And she is finally taking naps more regularly. Long ones. Sometimes it’s hard not to just go wake her up because I miss her...

And some extra pictures that I love...

First Family Vacation

2011-08-13T21:59:00.000-05:00

Where has the summer gone? Derrick is back in school as of this week so we feel as if summer is officially over. Of course the temperature outside says otherwise. So I am playing catch up once again…

Fourth of July. We headed to Mississippi for the week with Chewmomma and Dad-Dad. We went to Corinth because Dad-Dad is working there for the summer. There is not a whole lot of happenings in Corinth, but there is a ton of good food and more local restaurants than you can shake a stick at – which we loved. There are several Civil War attractions in and around Corinth including the Shiloh battlefield (which we didn't technically visit but we did drive past it on our way to eat fried catfish so I feel like that counts).

They were actually having the “Slugburger Festival” in Corinth while we were visiting. Now we had no clue what everyone was talking about, but apparently Corinth is the home of the slugburger. A slugburger thankfully has no slugs in it – we checked. It is a burger made with a little beef/pork and then some flour, cornmeal or soybean meal, depending on where you get it. And then it is deep fried. Crispy goodness! They used to sell them for a “slug” nickel and that’s how they got their name. History lesson while eating fried food.

We did visit a Civil War museum…

Pickwick Dam…

Sherriff Buford Pusser’s home who was the inspiration for the movie “Walking Tall”. I thought we were visiting the home of Buford T. Justice from “Smokey and the Bandit”. I was a little confused.

The oldest pharmacy in Mississippi (which still is open and serves slugburgers and milkshakes)…

And of course we did a little swimming…

June At a Glance

2011-07-02T16:51:00.000-05:00

Good gracious! There is so much to do ALL THE TIME. Seriously…what did we used to do with our days? Derrick and I have decided we must have been the laziest human beings EVER before Neely Jo. Quick recap on our goings and comings…

June 5th we celebrated Aunt Katie’s birthday. We didn’t get to see her, but we made Neely a sweet potato cake in her honor and then video taped it. It was a straight mess. But Katie enjoyed the video…almost as much as Neely Jo enjoyed her cake.

I had to go to California to work for a week. I cannot even describe how hard that was, but we survived. Derrick finished fencing in our backyard, did some laundry without ruining anything and managed to not freak out when Neely Jo had a low grade fever. He also managed to get addicted to milkshakes. Not sure how that happened, but we cannot continue to hit up the DQ for blizzards every night during the height of swimsuit season. I made it back just in time for Father’s Day (which was low-key seeing how I was EXHAUSTED…after all, Father’s Day is all about how I feel)…

Neely Jo has been playing in water more and more. The girl LOVES it. Now she may not be able to crawl, but she can straight face plant in a puddle of water like nobody’s business. We are just trying to keep things in perspective over here. Face planting is a big deal. It’s a “milestone”. Derrick and I were all about the one piece bathing suits but we had to break down and put her in a bikini because everything seems a lil tight across the midsection. Seeing how I know how that feels all too well, we opted for “breathing” by just letting it all hang out.

Last Friday we went Derrick’s Mom’s for a Fourth of July Firework show. We didn’t make it until the fireworks, but we ate and that’s always the best part. Let me just say that Derrick and I were not participating in the Pepsi-Coke challenge but we wore the t-shirts just because we are weird like that (just in case anyone notices the shirts).

Also, one of our friend’s (Tonya) is having a baby boy! That means baby shower! So last Saturday I helped with that and I just have to put a couple of pics because…

1. I love shower food.

2. The cake was almost too cute to eat (almost)

3. Tonya looks amazing. She is wearing stripes for Pete’s sake. Such a cute lil mama!

After the shower we headed to a surprise birthday party for my wonderful friend, Laura. She was so surprised she cried. Which almost made me cry. She actually just had her third little girl, Sarah Parker, who is a perfect, tiny doll baby. Derrick took pictures so there aren’t many keepers (He likes those action shots where you have food hanging out of your mouth or you’re laughing like a hyena).

(Neely Jo, Me, Laura, Valerie, Sarah Parker, Celeste)

And today we had a yard sale. Well, our neighbors did and we just pretty much dragged some junk outside. No price tags or organization whatsoever. But let me tell you, people like junk. And I like not having to load it up and take it to Goodwill. We had a couple of ladies come by that wanted to buy some of my pre-baby clothes and high heels. Not a single one of them could fit into a size 7 shoe but you would have thought these heels were Cinderella’s glass slippers and they were determined to marry the prince. These ladies will always be referred to as the “wicked step-sisters” even though they were really nice. Wish I had a picture.

OKAY! Now we are ready for July. Bring on the FIREWORKS!

Swiss Family Robinson, Are You There?

2011-06-03T23:11:00.000-05:00

Seriously. Swiss Family Robinson is living in my backyard. I am pretty sure of it. I think I have even heard their pet monkey back there a time or two. We have what we used to refer to as “The Jungle”. It is far worse than a jungle. We decided that we needed to clear out some of our wooded area and put a fence up so that our dogs would have a little more room to run and jump. Ok, let’s be honest. They are digging holes in our backyard and I am afraid of what the neighbors think when I swing open the door and scream “Keep diggin’ buddy, it’s your own grave” so we are kindly moving them to another section of the yard. Derrick started the clearing process in February before everything turned green and started growing at lightening speed.

And just so we are all clear – that is not a pile of brush. That junk is actually alive and attached in the ground with major roots.

I honestly don’t think these pictures do it justice. Derrick could pull on a vine and a tree 10 yards back would shake. Everything was overgrown and tangled into everything else. For example, this is a tree covered in vines that wrap into the next tree on the left...

A total nightmare. And then the World's Best Father-in-Law got us a backhoe. We agree that nothing has ever been as beautiful as watching that backhoe destroy this area. If it wouldn’t have been in the afternoon we probably would have lit some candles and drank some wine while watching the demolition.

So now we are working on a fence. Because of our work schedules, and having a small baby, we cannot seem to put a dent in it. The fence is taking forever to finish. Derrick’s Dad and Uncle Stevie came over to help and that was a HUGE blessing. And now they are vacationing in the Dominican Republic enjoying drinks with umbrellas in them. We are still here. Chugging Gatorade and putting up one board at a time. Hoping Neely Jo takes long naps on Saturdays and Sundays so we can one day be done. Notice how I act like I am out there. I am not. I bring drinks out. And sometimes Neely Jo and I sit and the shade and watch. I am the Foreman and she is in charge of splashing water out of Tupperware containers.

We aren't even close to being finished, but we have cleared enough to give us some extra room and we are leaving the rest for the Robinsons. Here is where we are now...

Caption Contest

2011-05-11T20:10:00.000-05:00

Just like every other parent, Derrick and I wonder what Neely Jo is thinking and what would come out of her mouth if she could actually talk. Unlike every other parent, we text pictures back and forth to each other with captions and see who can come up with the best one. Yeah. We are weird like that. Anyway, this is the other morning when I was feeding her breakfast. I am pretty sure the captions are dead on.

Ummm…hello, Mom? Why the heck are you stopping with the food and taking pictures? I haven’t finished off my 10 pound bag of sweet potatoes yet…

Fine, you ol’ bitty. I will just feed myself. Gimme that spoon!

Bless her heart. She is just totally into her food. Must get it from her Daddy. (haha)

First Mother's Day

2011-05-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother’s Day! Let me start by saying that I absolutely LOVED today. Being a Mom is truly the best thing I have ever done and I was so excited about today. Derrick had made all kinds of plans to do some of my favorite things for my first Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, Neely Jo is still battling a cough and as much as I wanted to run around and celebrate, I just couldn’t do it in good conscience. So the sad part of today was I had a baby that wasn’t feeling 100%, but the up side is that I had a baby that wanted to snuggle and be loved on all day. One of the things Derrick had planned was a picnic. Even with the forecast in the upper 70’s, we just couldn’t get Neely Jo out (at this point we aren’t sure if she has allergies or just a cold) so we had an inside picnic!

Our fried chicken picnic with all the fixins quickly turned into a BLT with a few other things that we could get together without spending the day cooking. It was delicious! You will never hear me complain about any meal that includes pork product, white bread (no crusts because they just get in my way) and Duke’s mayonnaise.

v

And my beautiful pink hydrangea was a Mother’s Day surprise from my friend, Elizabeth! We set it up so we had a little bit of the outside at our picnic. And this is a quilt that I actually bought Easter weekend. It is a Cathedral Window pattern and it has the dates stitched on one corner…

I love all the detail and that someone spent so much time making such a beautiful quilt. This will always be something special that I use on Mother’s Day and then I plan to give it to Neely Jo on her first Mother’s Day. Hopefully it will be as special to her as it is to me!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

Appreciating Some Teachers!

2011-05-06T21:38:00.000-05:00

Today has been a busy week around here! I am not sure if I have mentioned it before but we had to switch to a new daycare. Trying to be as nice as I possibly can, I will only say that the first daycare was not a good fit for us. Not a good fit AT ALL. We moved a couple of months ago and we are SO HAPPY. Absolutely IN LOVE with our new daycare and the ladies that take care of Neely Jo.

Neely Jo has three teachers: Ms. Eldred, Ms. Taryn, and Ms. Marcy. We seriously love each of them. So since it was Teacher Appreciation Week we got to take in a few goodies to say thank you to the people that take care of the most precious thing in our lives. One day we took each teacher a flower.

A homemade note. Since we clearly don’t let her use scissors or hot glue, Neely was only allowed to put her toe print on the cards – it didn’t turn out great, but it was our first attempt. We will get better.

And today we made candy baskets.

All the Snickers and Twix (my favorites) are hiding underneath the fluff.

I was totally excited about Teacher Appreciation Week and then the bomb dropped. Ms. Taryn told us that today was her last day. I am so completely heartbroken. I know that Neely loves her. I know this because I don’t believe I ever saw Neely Jo scream in her face, which happens frequently to pretty much everyone else. The child just looks directly at you and open mouth screams. Sometimes it’s funny, but mostly embarrassing. Derrick and I could not be happier having her take care of Neely. I don’t leave Neely Jowith ANYONE and I would totally have trusted Ms. Taryn to watch her any time, any place. She is moving back to Tennessee (God’s Country – can’t blame her for that one) to go back to school to be a teacher (can’t blame her there either because she is going to be an amazing kindergarten teacher). But we can still be depressed. I had to call Derrick and have him meet me at the Mexican restaurant to drown my sorrows in chips and salsa. On a positive note, Neely Jo did sit in a high chair all by herself for the first time.

When I told Derrick the sad news he was happy that she was going to become a teacher. He actually said, “That’s awesome!” while I had to fight back the urge to punch him. Then he made a good point. Maybe Ms. Taryn will come back to the Big BG and be Neely Jo's kindergarten teacher. We can only hope!

Neely's First Easter

2011-04-30T23:14:00.002-05:00

I know it is late but…Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed holiday because I know we sure did. We drove up to my parents for the weekend had a chance for some much needed family time and some much needed sleep. Chewmomma sure comes in handy at 3am!

We got to visit with lots of family and even managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Catlettsburg to run through an antique shop with the ladies. And new Cousin Rob joined us! Rob just married Becky and I am not sure if he is really into junkin or if he just loves Becky that much. He may never go again and he may also never come visit us. I yanked up a quilt that had mildew stains all over and repeatedly asked everyone if they thought I could get them out. Then I found a bench that I thought might have been paired with a chamber pot (it wasn’t actually, but I thought at first maybe it might have been). I had my hands all over that bench and poor Rob was probably thinking, “Why would she want that and why is she touching it so much?” but he kindly didn’t say anything. If he ever does actually come to visit he will probably be terrified that I don’t have indoor plumbing and that I am going to make him sleep in a moldy bed. Never, but I may let him sleep with Charlie, my 100 pound golden retriever that likes to snuggle.

Anyway, we tried to play photo session with Neely Jo and her Easter basket but that didn’t turn out very well. She seriously could care less about anything in the basket besides the grass. And she wanted to eat it.

The Church service was beautiful and we made it through with only two crying outbursts. First Granny got screamed at when the bottle was empty and then Chewmomma had to fish a piece of the program out of Neely’s mouth and she wasn’t real happy about it. Other than that Neely Jo thoroughly enjoyed her first Easter service!

Afterwards we went back to Granny and Papaw’s for lunch before heading out. Neely went back into the basket.

Aunt Sue helped us watch Neely while we finished visiting with everyone. This is one of my all time favorite pictures. Trees and flowers are all in bloom, spring is in the air and here Neely is bundled up in a chenille blanket with a toboggan…

P.S. We didn’t see the Easter bunny or even any baby chicks, but we did find this little fella…

Six Months Already

2011-04-09T21:42:00.001-05:00

Kentucky weather is absolutely unpredictable. I should never be posting pictures of Neely Jo two weeks apart when she is wearing a toboggan one week and breaking out the sleeveless two pieces the next week.

Other than the weather being the pits (not right now – it’s been warm in the sunshine as of lately) we have had a wild two weeks. Neely had her first ear infection and I had to go out of town for two days for work. I realize lots of people travel after they have babies but this was my first time and it nearly broke my heart. It also didn’t help that she wasn’t feeling well. I believe I gave my lil bug nearly 1,000 kisses before I walked out the door…

And when I came home I tried to make the most of the weekend and spoil her with as much love as possible. And who better to help me than Chewmomma! The timing was perfect because she actually got to see Neely Jo on her 6 month birthday. Sadly, I kept forgetting to take pictures of them and the only one I have of both of them will never be seen. I have been threatened within an inch of my life to delete it but I just can’t. One day Neely Jo will want to see a picture of her sprawled out on her grandma’s lap. Both of them asleep on the couch. Both in pajamas. Both with mouths hanging wide open. I actually woke Chewmomma up laughing so hard at the sight of them. Anyway, Chewmomma did give Neely “The Giving Tree” for her 6 month birthday and it was a hit! She is getting much better at sitting while I read to her, but she really just wants to open and shut the book.

Over and over.

And when she is tired of opening and shutting, sometimes it’s nice to curl up and chew on it…

And as you can see, Neely Jo can now sit up on her own. She still falls over some, but it is getting to be less and less. So that’s a milestone for us. And I thought it seemed like the perfect time to let her ride in the Wal-Mart cart all by herself today (with a cart cover thanks to Aunt Katie). Bad idea. She fell over and bumped her head when I turned a corner, which was followed by extremely loud screaming that stopped when I finally came out of hiding from the home goods aisle. [Good Mommy award goes here].

I did pretty much all of the shopping while Derrick waited in line at the deli to get some ham. Seriously, that boy has the worst luck when it comes to buying ham (another story for another time). This time he got behind two little old ladies who apparently thought Wal-Mart Deli was open for a cheese tasting. I am just hoping they didn’t hear Derrick making jokes and asking where the wine was and that they remembered to get some fiber or Colace before leaving Wal-Mart. But after standing around for so long Neely started to throw another fit and acted like she was about to starve to death. People were staring. We had to straight up feed her while walking to the front of Wal-Mart. Even more people were staring. Let’s all just be glad she is eating solids.

Check it out – the lady in line is turning around to check out Neely throwing a fit between bites of food. Bet she didn’t get up this morning and think she would end up on the internet. And if she does ever happen upon this I would like to say thank you, sweet lady, you were very nice and nonjudgmental.

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks...

2011-03-22T21:28:00.000-05:00

Or how about two hot dogs, two bags of chips, peanut M&M’s, nachos, a bbq sandwich and a RC cola. And Derrick had a cheeseburger. I was HUNGRY and the peanuts and cracker jacks weren’t gonna cut it. Neely Jo’s first baseball game. She looked similar to a hoot owl. She big eye-balled everything in total amazement.

And then she passed out. Maybe next time we will try to get some cheering in for the home team. After we eat, of course. Go Spartans!

The Sickies

2011-03-20T19:47:00.000-05:00

We had BIG plans for this weekend…my cousin Becky’s wedding! Derrick and I took off work on Friday, we were heading to my parents, and then heading to Columbus for the special event. I have been looking forward to this wedding FOREVER! I actually bought Neely Jo’s dress before she was even born. Just so we are clear on my feelings, there was no way I was missing this wedding. Enter the sickies. It hit Neely Jo Wednesday night. The sniffles. The coughs. The snots. Just all over sickies. Thankfully, she doesn’t have a fever but she is just pitiful. I waited until the last minute thinking that maybe I could just drive straight up to Columbus on Saturday morning but it just didn’t happen. And I know that it is probably best that I didn’t go. She would have been passed around like a hot potato and ended up with something worse. But I still was grouchy (major understatement) all day Saturday because I was so disappointed we weren’t there. I think Neely Jo was, too.

Derrick took advantage of the beautiful weekend weather and did some yard work (more on that later) and us girls just curled up in bed and watched movies. Derrick was a tad jealous. Especially when he found out we had matching socks.

The Avocado Exorcist

2011-03-13T13:01:00.000-05:00

When I was pregnant Derrick and I had all these ideas about how everything was going to go down. Neely was going to sleep in our room in a crib for the first four weeks and then she was going to move into the nursery and sleep in her crib in there. Yeah right. Neely Jo has probably spent a total of 25 minutes in both cribs combined. She wakes up every single time we try to sneak her into a crib. If we are lucky, we might be able to put her in the swing. For the most part she sleeps in the middle of the bed. Totally not the way I had thought it was going to happen. I had also planned on breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months. Well, I have to go out of town in a couple of weeks and I have no idea how in the hee-haw I am going to get enough to feed the little bug. We decided to go ahead and start her on food two weeks early which was today. We are trying to skip rice cereal all together and opted for avocados. In my mind I pictured Miss Neely Jo loving it. Gulping it down. Everybody says they just eat a little in the beginning but I figured she would be more like a pig on slop. I was thinking my baby girl was going to be an overachiever with the food seeing how she is my daughter, and Mama loves to eat.

Imagine the scene from the Exorcist. You know, green mess flying all over. That was us. She liked it at first but round two was a whole different story. It was so bad we stopped taking pictures so we could capture some of it on video. We did get a couple of good ones before she started flailing around. And of course the dogs were extremely interested...

Can We Get a Parenting Class, Please?

2011-03-12T18:50:00.000-06:00

Our latest lesson in parenting came today. We woke up this morning and it was beautiful outside. Forecast 69 degrees and sunny. We thought to ourselves, “Let’s load up and take Neely Jo to the park.” And so we did.

1. Even if you think your 5 ½ month old would be interested in watching you feed ducks, they really aren’t. You just end up stepping in duck poo for no good reason.

2. When you pull up at the park and see the other children (who are about 4-5 years old) wearing their Carhartt coveralls, you should turn around and go home. The Bailey Boys sleeveless dress with matching bloomers is probably not the best choice for the season. No matter how cute you think it is.

3. If you have a baby stroller with some of those nice iBaby speakers for your baby, you should make sure your iPod is already set to something appropriate for the park and your child. Nobody wants to hear you strolling around to Run DMC singing “It’s Tricky”.

4. Even if your baby did have colic and she still likes to be bounced around 24/7 and she screams when you put her in the stroller unless you make it jerk around and do some rough riding on the gravel, there is no need to be so obvious about it. Nothing worse than people thinking you are playing Evel Knievel with your baby.

5. Make sure all the cars door are shut before you decide it’s a good time to nurse. And don’t holler and draw attention to yourself if they aren’t.

Putting the "Basket" in Basketball

2011-02-20T14:27:00.000-06:00

Well, basketball season is almost over and I have been slacking. I used to go to the games, take pictures and we would have the team over to our house several times during the season for cookouts and such. I am ashamed to admit I have been to a couple of games and that is it. I mean NOTHING else. I did manage to make it over to gym the other weekend, but the only pictures I took were of the Littlest Spartan.

Now you would have thought that I had the happiest baby in the world while she was in that basket. When we were pulling up to the gym she was crying. She needed a nap. And it was almost time for her to eat. I thought she would be a bear about sitting in the basket. Nope. She LOVED it! Derrick picked her up once to readjust her and she started screaming and was immediately laughing as soon as he put her back. I may never leave the house again without that basket. I can just hear them at Red Lobster, “Ma’am, can we get you a high chair?” Me, “No thank you. I am just going to shove her in the basket under the table so I have enough table room for my cheesy biscuits.”

Just a few pics where she she got distracted...

Maggie

2011-02-15T19:59:00.000-06:00

I have a wonderful friend, Laura, who has a wonderful daughter, Maggie. Unfortunately, Maggie is very sick and needs lots of prayers. This past Friday she checked into the ICU at Vanderbilt. She has pneumonia in both lungs and was put on the vent. Then her right upper lobe collapsed. She also has a bacteria infection in her blood and is having some issues with her kidneys. Maggie is a precious little baby and it hurts my heart for her to be so sick. Laura is the strongest mother I have ever met and she amazes me every single time I talk to her. Whenever Maggie is sick, Laura rolls with the punches. She is truly exceptional. She is also expecting her 3^rd Baby Girl. I cannot imagine the stress she is under. Please pray for their family. They need all the love and support they can get right now!

Maggie this Saturday...

Here is one of my all time favorite pictures. Maggie with her big sister, Hannah...

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2011-02-14T19:33:00.000-06:00

Quick post. Neely is in the process of cutting her first tooth - YIKES! So she is in a bit of a mood to put it nicely. I should have known this was what was going on when she started chewing on everything. Aggressively. Kinda resembling a dog on meat. Anyway, thank you Aunt Katie for her Valentine’s outfit! It is still a bit big but she needed to be festive today…

Derrick and I gave her this sheep that unfolds making a pillow pet type thing and a matching blanket. She has made several attempts to eat it. She must have learned that from watching me devour my gift to myself. An entire bag of bite size snickers.

And now she is done with picture time…

7 Facts

2011-02-13T15:47:00.000-06:00

My cousin, Becky, passed this award on to me the other day and I am just now finding some time to log on here and do my 7 Facts! I love reading these types of awards because its fun to see what people share. If anyone else reposts these please let me know because I enjoy reading them : )

1. I am scared of cows. They just make me nervous. I have vowed to save the world from these beasts one cheeseburger at a time.

2. I despise cinnamon rolls. I do not want them anywhere near me. The sight of them makes me nauseated and the smell is enough to literally kill me. Cinnamon rolls are NOT allowed in our house. They make me that sick.

3. I am obsessed with presents. I love getting gifts and giving gifts…for all major and minor holidays. They don’t have to be BIG gifts. I love when Derrick only spends a couple of bucks on something, as long as it is thoughtful. Rule of our house…don’t be caught emptied handed even if it’s Martin Luther King Day.

4. I love the color red. I am secretly jealous of anyone who can wear red lipstick and look good doing so. There are only a few people that can do this. My Aunt Kay is one of them.

5. My glue gun is probably my best friend. I feel like I can accomplish anything with my trusty glue gun in my hand. I can make curtains, cover pillows, fancy up a lamp shade, fix all sorts of odds and ends and the list goes on and on.

6. I love excel spreadsheets. I make them for EVERYTHING! I could sit and arrange things in excel for hours.

7. I am a huge dork. I love to play any kind of memory games. When I am bored I time myself making lists (in excel, of course) of all the states and their capitals. Then I erase the list and re-do it to see if I can beat my time. That is really sad.

The January Recap

2011-01-30T16:19:00.000-06:00

We have been busy getting back into the swing of things…real busy. Going back to work was harder than I had ever imagined. Neely Jo is warming up to daycare but it is still heart wrenching every time I have to leave her. Her colic seems to be gone, thank you, Jesus! She still has a wild little temper...

But for the most part she is a happy little baby. I have to get better at time management but this month we have been trying to make the most of our nights and weekends and loving every minute of our time together. Here are a couple of pics from this month.

Her blanket from Chewmomma is the only way to keep her happy in the car…

We tried the giraffe, but she just thinks she is supposed to nurse on him…

She learned how to pull her legs up over her swing tray…

Her new exersaucer. The sounds surprise her a little but she loves it…

She will play in it until she is completely worn out…

And her clothes aren’t just for wearing. They make great chew toys…

This talking doggie is still a little bit scary…

And as long as the sun isn’t in her eyes, she loves her stroller. She likes to lounge in it sideways, and that is just fine with us…

But as soon as the sun hits her face it’s time to be carried…

And the sweetest thing ever is when she smiles without any toys at all…

Nobody puts Baby in the Corner...errr...except Ms. Linda

2011-01-03T21:15:00.001-06:00

(Credit where credit is due...Julie the Mama for my Title)

I have been dreading today for quite some time. Today was Neely Jo’s first time at daycare. I have to go back to work in two weeks and I wanted to ease her into daycare. The child does not take to change well so I figured it would be good for her if she went for a couple of hours a day until I go back to work. Don’t let me fool you – I am doing this for myself as much as I am for her. The thought of leaving her breaks my heart and there is NO WAY I can just up and leave her for an entire eight hour work day the very first time.

So I took her in and she loved it. She was smiling and laughing and I was shocked. I took my time unloading her things into her new crib (the very front crib right beside the door and the entrance to the newborns room). I piddled around to make sure she wasn’t going to have a complete come apart. When I left she was being rocked by Ms. Linda and smiling those big perfectly goofy smiles.

I was gone three hours. Longest three hours of my life.

She was just waking up from a nap when I came back. I couldn’t find her because she was so quiet. I seriously walked right past her. I asked how she did and they told me that she had been a little fussy but after she ate she took a nap. I turned around to add a few things to her crib when I realized that none of her stuff was there. We got moved. To the back of the nursery. Furthest from the entrance and the newborns. I must have looked surprised because they explained to me that she has “such a big voice for such a tiny baby”. They aren’t telling me anything. Neely must have put on a show and probably scared the newborns. So we got bumped to the back. Which is fine by me! Probably less germs back there anyway. And she was all smiles at the ladies before we left so I am guessing they must have treated her pretty darn good. So as much as it breaks my heart to leave her, I feel like Ms. Linda is loving my baby when I can’t.

The Last Day of the Best Year

2010-12-31T18:30:00.000-06:00

I was talking to my friend Laura today about how fast 2010 went by – my exact words…

“I didn’t do anything this year. Besides have a baby.”

And then we started laughing because that is a BIGGER deal than anything else I have ever done. And it’s so much more rewarding than anything else. I guess this year goes down as the most productive ever. The most breathtaking. The most humbling. The GREATEST!

Glad you are here, Baby Girl!

Sugar Cookies

2010-12-29T19:45:00.001-06:00

Katie has been busy making sugar cookies. If she has tried one recipe, she has tried a gazillion. I, keeping with the motto of work smart not hard, am enjoying the fruits of her labor. She has been testing different recipes for a couple of years in search of the perfect sugar cookie and I believe she has finally found one. Thank Heavens! She tweaked it a little and now it is just right…

Ingredients
• 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• ¼ tsp. salt

• ½ cup butter, softened

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 6 oz. white chocolate

Here are her exact instructions-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In small saucepan over low heat, melt the white chocolate and set aside. In small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt (so they're well combined) and set aside.

In large mixer bowl beat butter and sugar until creamy. Blend in egg and vanilla extract. Beat in melted white chocolate. Gradually beat in flour mixture until soft dough forms. Shape dough in ball; flatten to 3/4" thickness. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 15 minutes until firm.

On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to desired thickness (I like mine pretty thick!). I also put mine on parchment paper. Bake until edges are golden. (I think if the edges start to get the SLIGHTEST bit barely golden, they are over cooked - take them out when they still look not quite done. I cooked them for 6 minutes.) Let stand 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely.

We enjoyed these over Christmas and I am just itching to bake some more because they didn’t last long!

A Baby Blessing

2010-12-28T18:00:00.002-06:00

The Sunday after Christmas we had Neely Jo blessed at church. I knew when I was pregnant that I wanted my cousin, Becky, to bless Neely. Becky is a very special person to me and I hope that she will always be a big part of Neely’s life. I knew she would be the perfect person for this and she did a beautiful job! Derrick and I were very excited for Neely’s big day at church and it was absolutely everything we wanted it to be! We also asked my Uncle Jim to assist Becky and he somehow managed to keep Neely from crying throughout the blessing. It was a miracle : )

Becky’s prayer really touched my heart. She talked about how Neely’s family had been there for her through her colic and how everyone was willing to walk with her and sit with her during this difficult time. She prayed that her family and her church family would continue to be there for her throughout the rest of her life to love and support her just like they have been. I had to fight back the big tears when she said this. I knew my cousin, James, was video taping and he would be sure to zoom in on my curled up face if I opened the flood gates. Let me assure you that if there is one thing I have never been able to master it is crying without curling my face. I sure would have hated to ruin the Blessing video with that sight.

After church, the whole family loaded up and went to eat at an Italian restaurant in town. I loved getting to spend extra time with our family before we had to leave to come home. It really meant a lot to us to have everyone there for Neely’s special day!

This is a great picture of Becky and Rob. Rob is going to be the next addition to our family because he and Becky are getting married in March! Everyone just loves Rob and we can't wait until we can claim him as one of "us".

And of course before we left to head home, Chewmomma and Granddad had to steal back their newest granddaughter for some lovin. They are so cute with her! Every time I walk up when they are talking to her they are always saying, “Oh, we love you so much. We just want you to be happy. You just tell Granddad (or Chewmomma – depends on which one of them is talking) what you want and Granddad (Chewmomma) will get it for you. Anything you want, baby girl.” (I just know one day she is going to ask for a pony and Derrick is going to have to learn how to build a barn.)

Derrick and I are very happy that Neely Jo had her Blessing and we feel very lucky to have such a wonderful family that helped us make her day beautiful!

Merry, Merry Chirstmas!

2010-12-27T23:06:00.000-06:00

We have been busy with the hustle and bustle of Christmas! School is out for Derrick and we have been taking advantage of every last minute of family time we had. We just got home last night from spending a long Christmas weekend with my family, and as nice as it is to be home…we already miss them.

My Aunt Sue always has a Christmas Eve party at her house. I always look forward to this night because not only do we get to spend time with family, she always has the most amazing foods! Tons and tons of appetizers that just make my mouth water thinking about them. I should have taken a picture of the spread, but Derrick and I were too busy trying to capture an action shot of Cousin Eli jumping on the couch. This is our best one…

And despite our best attempts, he refused to get too close to Neely and smile. He actually covered his ears when she cried. It was hysterical. Rachel did coax him this close, but this is as good as it gets…

But even with a crying baby, the party went on and it was my favorite one to date!

Neely Jo, bless her heart, was completely wore out and ready to be back at my parent’s house for some time with her Granddad. He has always had a way with children and Neely is no different. She just fell in love with him rocking her…

Before I go any further, Neely’s snow boots are entirely too big for her. And they are extremely loud to look at. However, my Granny insists that all babies be dressed in their warmest clothes from head to toe, covered in at least two blankets and prefers them to be sitting close to a roaring fire. There was no way Neely was going to be allowed to only have tights on in Granny’s presence. And her crib shoes are too big to stay on, so snow boots were the only answer. Snow boots with fur on the inside, mind you.

Christmas morning we (Derrick and I) slept in! Woot! Woot! It was wonderful. Neely Jo got to spend some quality time with her Grandparents.

When we finally got up we opened gifts. Neely actually seemed more into Granddad feeding her than her presents. She didn't get that from me. There is nothing I love more than presents. Although food is a close second.

After a day of gorging ourselves on turkey and dressing, we went to my grandparents and gorged ourselves again on oysters and red velvet cake. It got ugly. Unfortunately, Neely was really content playing on her new exercise mat which gave Derrick and me this opportunity to eat like a field hand and gobble like a hog (just like Mammy from “Gone with the Wind" says).

It was such a wonderful weekend and I am so happy that Neely got to spend her first Christmas surrounded by so many people that whole heartedly love her. We really hated for it to end...especially Neely.

Little Lamb, I Love You

2010-12-08T23:14:00.000-06:00

I had a shower today. And I blow dried and straightened my hair. Finally, I slapped some make-up on my face. All while Neely Jo was awake. And she wasn’t crying. This is a milestone for us! She has only spent MAYBE 15 minutes MAX in her swing, bouncy, crib, or whatever without crying. I don’t think I have ever been happier! I have been calling family members all day and bragging about taking a shower (I normally do take showers but they usually involve me jumping out half covered in soap with conditioner in my hair because Neely is having a tee total come apart). Thank you little lamb hanging on the bouncy seat. You are magical.

Mall Rats

2010-12-08T00:01:00.000-06:00

We are quickly becoming mall rats. It was twenty degrees here today and absolutely unbearable. So…we went back to the mall again today. We were in desperate need of Christmas gifts. This tree is looking all too sad without any presents under it.

And Neely was sooo incredible good at the mall today. I was nervous because I had taken her to the mall two weeks ago and it was about the worst experience of my life. She threw a major conniption fit and there I was all by myself with tons of mall walkers staring at me trying to calm my baby and kicking the stroller down the mall (she was so wild it took both of my hands to hold her which meant I had to kick the stroller). This is after I spent a solid ten minutes with the stroller stuck between the racks at Gymboree and a red faced baby screaming. I don’t think I will ever go back there again because of the shame. Seriously, people were judging me all over that mall. I rushed her into a dressing room at Macy’s and while I fed her I thought about having a good cry for myself.

But anyway, today was a different story. I actually had a little angel baby. You wouldn’t have even known she was there except for the fact that she would pull her blankie up and down over her face to check things out every little bit. I think this might have been her first attempt at peek-a-boo. And it was adorable.

Santa is Fun and Mommy is Crazy

2010-12-06T23:34:00.000-06:00

It is hard for me to believe Neely Jo is already going for her two month well visit. This is all happening to quickly and I want to push pause so I can enjoy this time a little longer. I just want to sit down and cry because I know she will never be my 6 pound 8 ounce baby girl again. She now weighs in at 9 pounds and 5 ounces and is 22 inches long. Dr. Kries says she is growing at a perfect rate, heart and lungs sound wonderful and that she is quite strong (I assure you this is not only a reference to her physical strength. The child is strong headed and not at all ashamed of it).

She handled her shots very well. Better than Derrick or myself (we both covered our faces). Since she was so good, we decided to get some shopping in and to take Miss Neely to see Santa. She loved him. I know this because she didn’t scream in his face. Thankfully.

Derrick had basketball practice so we had to leave afterwards and Neely and I took a big long nap. Well, when I woke up she had a fever of 100.3 and I flipped out. They told me she would probably have a fever and not to be alarmed but to call them if it reached 99.4. These are things that went through my mind…

1. I am a horrible mother who took a nap while her baby had a fever.

2. I let her fever get an entire 1 degree higher than I was supposed to before I called.

3. I don’t have a clue how much Tylenol to give her.

4. How fast can I lower her temp in the bathtub?

5. When will she start getting brain damage because I am careless?

After running around my house in complete hysterics (seriously – I was completely out of control and screaming) and watching Derrick feed off of my nervous energy, I started making phone calls. After I called Dr. Kries, my friend, Laura, my sister, sister-in-law, mother and mother-in-law I now realize a few things…

1. 100.3 is not anything to worry about after vaccines.

2. There is a chart for how much Tylenol to give infants.

3. I should not have put her in the bathtub to lower her temp.

4. Babies fevers shoot up whether you are taking a nap or not.

5. Derrick and I need to invest in a tranquilizer gun and take turns shooting each other when we have first-time-parent-events. We have a tendency to overreact.

Neely is totally fine. She has been an angel every since we got her out of that cold bathtub. I think she is so happy not to be an ice cube that she is pretty much content doing whatever tonight.

Even though I am completely calm now, I think I will still sleep with one eye open tonight. Just incase.

The Littlest Spartan

2010-12-05T22:20:00.001-06:00

Well, basketball season is in full force and Derrick is LOVING his new job at South Warren. This week they played three varsity games and won them all! Saturday night was their first home game and Neely Jo and I showed up to support the Spartans. Well, that is what we intended to do but really it seemed more like Neely crowd surfed through the stands while I passed out antibacterial gel. I was really nervous that she would be a bear and cry the whole game, but she actually was surprisingly good.

One of the softball coaches (Coach Riggs) gave Derrick two baby outfits for Neely Jo. She is definitely to Littlest Spartan showing up in her onesie. The back of this outfit says “Clubb” and the other one says “Asst. Coach”. Derrick always says he wants her to be a girly girl, but he looked really excited seeing her in her sports apparel.

We got to see Derrick’s HS Basketball Coach and his wife Nancy, who brought Neely Jo a present…

And they gave her this tiny little basketball with a teddy inside. So sweet!

Of course no public outing would be complete without a few outbursts…

I didn't get any great action pictures of Derrick. I kindly asked him if he could just look up in the stands and smile every so often, he said probably not. Apparently he has bigger things on his mind than my photo shoots when it's game time. Here is the back of his head.

As far as the game, the final score was 50-32. Life is so much easier when Derrick’s team wins so let’s hope they keep it up!

P.S. Life is also easier when I see this face. I know this Little Spartan will be getting a good nights rest and so will Mommy!

Simple Birthday

2010-12-03T23:32:00.000-06:00

This Wednesday we celebrated Derrick’s birthday. I must admit, things were VERY different this year. There was no way Miss Neely was going to cooperate with me on throwing a birthday party for her Daddy. Here is how it went down…

Derrick had to open his gifts with a key being that I ordered them online and they were in a big brown box. There was no wrapping paper. There was no card.

We did take out. No hot homemade meal. Styrofoam boxes with salads from Longhorn. I did grab some forks out of the drawer. Clearly this celebration was too fancy for plasticware.

Instead of going out for drinks or going to watch a movie, Neely provided us with our entertainment. There is just something precious about that baby playing in her bathtub.

Thankfully, Derrick’s Mom made him a birthday cake (otherwise we would have all been gathered around a Little Debbie Fudge Round with a candle in it). Coconut cake – YUM!I told her we would give her back her dish this weekend so I am doing my best to polish it off as quickly as possible. I am doing an excellent job.

Even though his birthday might have been simple without any decorations or fancy fixins, having one extra person at the party made it more special than any before.

What Happened to Halloween and Thanksgiving?

2010-12-01T22:52:00.000-06:00

Ok – I am really behind on my holidays. Halloween was forever ago and I never posted any pictures. Katie and Mike brought the kids up to visit and here are a few of my favorite pictures - which also serve as an explanation as to why all my door handles were sticky the next day : )

For Thanksgiving we went to see my family. Unfortunately, I was completely consumed with shoveling food in my face and taking naps and I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have. I will have to stay more focused on our next visit.

Chewmomma and Neely...

My Dad, who can somehow manage to put Neely to sleep in two seconds. I thought about forcing him to come live with us but I think Chewmomma would get really jealous.

And TA-DA! Not only was I able to snap a picture of my Granny (which is almost impossible because she hates pictures) but I got one with her smiling!

We did get to take Neely Jo to the Paramount to see the “Festival of Trees”. She loved the lights for the first couple of minutes and then she knocked herself right out and went into a deep sleep. Derrick and I both LOVE going and looking at all the trees and getting into the Christmas Spirit.

I cannot wait to see how much Neely loves looking at the train they set up. This year she wasn’t that impressed but she will eventually come around…

We also got to have a nice hot Thanksgiving breakfast with Derrick’s family before we left. The last time Derrick and I sat down and ate breakfast together was before Neely was born, so this was especially nice! You can tell that Neely Jo is very impressed with her cousin, Corbin…

We tried to get a picture of Nana with both grandbabies, but it’s just more fun to stand on a stool, jump onto the chair, laugh and then rinse and repeat…

Neely tried to get Corbin to stay…

Let me zoom in on that one…

And Corbin found a kitten. Luckily he isn’t my child because I wouldn’t have been able to say no to that sweet face and I probably would have just packed up the neighbor’s kitty and taken it home with us.

So now we have two great holidays down and we are getting excited for the best holiday! Christmas, here we come!

Blessed with a Belly

2010-11-20T09:48:00.000-06:00

I am not saying that I am not always a “Proud Momma”, but certain things just seem to make me smile a little bigger and make me want to send out massive emails so my family can see Miss Neely in all of her glory. I had one of those moments this week. Neely has struggled with her weight since we came home from the hospital. We were in the doctor’s office almost twice a week for weight checks and I was going to see a lactation consultant to have her weighed before and after feeding to make sure she was getting enough milk (which she wasn’t). I have fed, pumped, fed, pumped and then fed and pumped some more since we came home from the hospital. Finally, I feel like we are making progress. I was giving Sweet Cheeks a bath this week and Derrick was busy snapping pictures. Later when I looked back at the pictures I was happily surprised…

Yay! She has a belly! I could not be happier! Sometimes you just need to step back and have one of those moments where you realize your hard work is paying off…this was my moment!

I am not by any means trying to cover up her baby belly in that last pic. I was just trying to keep her from sliding down her tub for the 100th time. Wet babies are more slippery than I had imagined!

That's How We Stroll

2010-11-10T20:37:00.000-06:00

Today was a gorgeous day! We finally were able to take Miss Neely Jo on her first walk (ride) in her stroller. Derrick had to take the day off from work because I had to have a root canal so he was able to go with us. And I am sure he was happy or else he would have missed this sweet sight…

Thanks to her Nana, Neely stayed nice a snuggly in her lil outfit. I know it is still a bit too big for her, but we just couldn’t resist putting her in it today. And isn’t it better to wear your clothes too big rather than too small. I am thinking yes.

CRAZY Days

2010-11-01T19:51:00.000-05:00

Having a baby is busy! I was hoping to post more often with lost of pictures of Baby Neely, but the past week has been CRAZY! Kinda like her hair...

But as CRAZY as it is, I love every minute of it.

Quick As A Cat

2010-10-20T07:14:00.001-05:00

It fits! Neely gained four ounces since last week and can almost fill out her newborn clothes…I’m a proud Momma! Aunt Nena got her this little outfit for Halloween but we couldn’t resist putting her in it yesterday.

Yesterday was an event! She was an angel all morning. She slept, played by herself and slept a little more. I took complete advantage of this short amount of time and got a few things done around the house. Derrick is off again this week so he is a major help. He put away clothes from six loads of laundry while I tried to clean. We grabbed a few of our fall decorations and slung them around the house as quick as a cat. Halloween is one of our favorite times of year so we normally get really into decorating for it. This year we are going minimal. Just enough to make it feel like fall but with the least amount of time and effort…

Then I made a quick lunch. Actually, I made this soup the night before and then warmed it up and added some hot turkey and cheese sandwiches. This soup is the best tortilla soup ever. I never order tortilla soup out anymore because I am always disappointed. And it is really easy…

Chicken Tortilla Soup
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of celery
1 can tomatoes with green chilies
1 can cheddar cheese
1 can chicken broth
1 small onion chopped
2-4 cloves garlic minced
½ C Pace Picante (mild)
1 tsp chili powder
2 chicken breasts boiled and shredded
¼ C cilantro chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and bring to a slow simmer for 30 minutes or longer. Top with fried tortillas and Colby cheese.

Unfortunately, we got about half way through lunch when Little Miss decided she needed to be held. After throwing a major hissy fit after another, we were worn completely out. Too bad Chewmomma had to go home. We could have used the help yesterday more than ever.

Girls Day Out

2010-10-11T20:26:00.000-05:00

Yay! We went to see Dr. Kries again today for a weight check-in and Miss Neely Jo has gained one ounce. I know that is not much, but she just started eating really well yesterday so hopefully by Wednesday she will have gained a few more ounces and we will be free and clear without supplementing! I was a little more pumped about this than neely Jo...

We had to do a little celebrating. I know that I have passed judgment before on people that take their babies out too early. But usually it is when I see tiny babies at a smoky bowling alley or laying in the nasty shopping carts at Wal-Mart without even a shred of a blanket underneath them. I will never pass judgment again because we (Chewmomma and I) hauled Neely Jo to the mall today. In my defense, nobody was at the mall and we weren’t there that long. Just long enough to grab a few necessities. Like boots. And winter coats. And a bedspread. And some nail polish. Okay, maybe these were luxuries except for the nail polish. We need it for the celebratory Mani-Pedi’s! Just like these ladies…

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Chewmomma used “A to Z-urich” and I picked “Vodka and Caviar” (since I am not actually partaking in either I figured I might as well have it on my nails) and Neely Jo, being more of a natural beauty, just got some moisturizer and a light buffing of the nails.

Our girls day out was tons of fun and poor Derrick had to miss it because he had to go back to work today. We did swing in Barnes and Noble and Neely Jo picked him up a few books that he had been wanting. And we (or at least our nails) looked nice and polished when Derrick made it home and we handed him his present. Surprisingly, he would rather hold his baby than read the books...

Check out Chewmomma…she was like a proud peacock showing off Neely Jo and teaching her how to use a debit card at Macy’s. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

Dr. Kries Meets Neely Jo

2010-10-09T21:08:00.000-05:00

We had our first appointment with the pediatrician Friday and everything went great! Neely Jo has already grown from 19 inches to 20.75 inches but she has lost a few more ounces. She only weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces when we left the hospital and now she is at 6 pounds 8 ounces today. We are going back on Monday for another weight check so hopefully she will have gained a little.

And our pediatrician, Dr. Kries, is the best! She let me snap pictures the whole time. She did a great job checking Neely Jo over, answering all of our "first-time parent" questions and even managed to do a little posing for the camera…

Let me just say, I don’t want Neely Jo to suck her thumb, but I couldn’t help but to be a proud Momma when she found it for the first time and started sucking it to death. I keep wondering if the excitement wears off but as of right now I get overly excited each time she does a new “trick”. I am sure that if she takes up thumb sucking I will re-read this one day and regret thinking it was so stinkin cute. But for now I am just going to enjoy her and every little thing she does.

All is well with our happy little baby! We are trying to fatten her up before Monday and hoping we don’t smother her with kisses!

Home, Healthy and Happy!

2010-10-07T09:20:00.001-05:00

Finally our little baby girl has arrived…Neely Jo! She was born Sunday, October 3rd at 1:40 pm. She weighed 7 pounds 7.5 ounces and she was 19 inches long. She surprised us by coming a week early but thankfully we were almost ready.

Neely Jo had a couple of visitors that came by to give her some extra lovin and we were so happy to get to share this with a few of our close friends and family.

Brooke…

Elizabeth…

Coach Compton and his sweet wife Nancy….

Aunt Nena and Corbin (I couldn’t resist using this picture- hehe!)

Derrick’s Aunt Elaine and Uncle Greg…

And of course her Nana (Derrick’s Mama)…

Neely Jo’s Grandpa (Derrick’s Dad, James) and Mamaw are on vacation in Florida this week and haven’t got to meet her yet, but are very anxious to come over when they get back home. My Momma (affectionately known as Chewmomma by her other grandchildren) is coming in town tomorrow for a week worth of hugs and kisses. Aunt Katie, Uncle Mike and Amelia and Jack will hopefully be able to make a trip up at the end of the month. Amelia has been asking to see Baby Neely since I was about 7 months pregnant and Jack liked to raise my shirt and pat my belly so we cannot wait to see their reaction to their new cousin!

Our little family happily left the hospital on Tuesday afternoon…

And as excited as we were to get her home, we had to take at least fifty million pictures of the process.

After all the excitement of coming home, our sweet baby wanted nothing more than to yawn and take a nice long snooze in her new home…

It's Fall and That Means Jackson's!

2010-09-25T18:07:00.000-05:00

I love the fall! I love when the weather gets cool, the leaves start to turn, and we can sit around a fire pit and enjoy the evenings. I also love it that we get to visit Jackson’s Apple Orchard. It is one thing that we look forward to every year. We usually wait until it gets a little colder and we can enjoy some hot apple cider, but considering Baby Girl will be here soon, we decided we better go now.

We only grabbed a few goodies this trip. We wanted to get some pumpkins and we are hoping we get to go back in the next couple of weeks to get the pumpkin bread, the pumpkin fudge and the pumpkin butter.

This was actually the first year that we went and it didn’t take over an hour to choose all of our pumpkins. Normally I have to inspect them all…which means I pretty much crawl around on the ground licking my hand and rubbing the pumpkins to make sure the brown spots are just dirt and not permanent discolorations. They also have to be perfectly shaped and have pretty stems. This year it was just too much. I let Derrick pick the pumpkins pretty much all by himself since I am entirely too big to be getting into inspection mode.

He was all too pleased with his selections and I was happy to stroll around and look at the mums. I might just have to let him pick the pumpkins every year :)

And besides, there were more important things for me to take care of…ordering up the apple chips and apple cider floats which were delicious! I thought I would be sad over not have the hot cider but this completely made up for it.

I can’t wait until next year when Derrick is pulling this wagon and we don’t have room for all of our pumpkins because Baby Girl is sitting right in the middle. I know she will love Jackson’s just as much as we do!

Our Baby Luncheon

2010-08-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

July has come and gone and I could not be more excited about it! It was a rough month for us…first the deer, then I had to have a cyst removed from my lower back, then our AC went out and finally Charlie helped himself to a basket of chocolate and we had to make a late night visit to the animal hospital. Thankfully…all of those situation are resolved and doing well! But we were happy to see July come to an end!

July also brought us a few happy moments. I had my 29th birthday…one more year till the BIG 30! These days I think I could fall asleep on command in about 2.5 seconds so we opted for a very relaxing birthday…dinner, presents and then bedtime. My friend, Elizabeth, did drop off an ice cream cake so there was a little midnight snacking as well…

So far this month has been great! We had our baby luncheon last weekend and it was so much fun! Elizabeth, Brooke and Katie hosted the party at our house and did a fabulous job!

My family was able to come in for a quick visit and we got to see many of our out-of-town friends that we don't get to see often enough...

And of course my nephew and niece were there…

We had worked Amelia up for two weeks that she was going to be helping me open presents, so she was more than happy to help…

Until there was tissue paper…

That needed to be put on Baby Carlee…

And all the ranch dip needed to be removed from a couple of Rachel’s tomatoes…

Thankfully I was able to recruit some more present openers while Amelia was distracted. Unfortunately all I have is a picture of their pretty blonde hair from the back. They took their task a little more seriously. There wasn’t time to be cheesing and posing with all the presents that needed to be unwrapped. Thank you, Maggie and Hannah!

(Don’t judge my open mouth smile…I was super pumped with all of the hair bows that Laura made and she even made the hair bow hanger to match the nursery!)

We did get so many lovely things and I cannot wait to use them!

Brooke made several beautiful things for Baby Girl, one of which is this white blanket that we plan on using at her baby blessing….

My mom was able to find a pair of big girl boots for her to play in the snow with when she gets older. We don’t get that much snow here, so I am sure this was a premeditated gift that she hopes will ensure that we come visit her in the winter…preferable Christmas. She is a sneaky one!

And she has her First Basketball! Derrick could not be more pleased!!!

I just finished writing the last of the Thank You notes and dropped them in the mail. And my hostesses should be receiving their “Thank You For Everything - We Love You So Much and Really Appreciate All of Your Hard Work!” gifts soon if not already - check your mail boxes!

Paint Picking is NOT My Strong Point

2010-07-09T19:11:00.000-05:00

As the nesting stage continues I seem to be getting more and more projects going (Derrick loves me a lot right now). We have lived in our current house for about two years and I have looked at this wall paper everyday. I am done. There is no way I can let Baby Girl come home and see this with her precious little eyes. And I am not really a fan of this green either. I have seen it in other homes and it looks good, but it looks very dingy here (partly because it is very stained and needs to be freshened up). Derrick gave his high school basketball coach a call – he moonlights as a painter now that he is retired. He has agreed to repaint for us – Woot! Woot!

The green...

The wall paper...

He has already put primer all over the walls and he painted a little patch of Porter Paint’s “Willow Gold” on the wall so I could give it the approval. Nope. It is just not going to happen. I knew that I did not want a yellow on these walls. We are painting the foyer, living room and hallway this color and it is just too big of an area for yellow. Do not ask me why I picked a paint that has “gold” in its name. I should never be allowed to paint shop alone. I then went over to Sherwin Williams and picked up some “Ramie”.

Here are the two side by side. “Willow Gold” is on the left and “Ramie” is on the right.

I think “Ramie” is much better for my area. I am so excited to see what it looks like finished!!! Now I have to find a paint color for my dining room. I want something that coordinates since it is all one open area but I am not sure how dark I want to go. I want a brown with a little bit of green undertone. I am thinking about a color called “Sawdust” that is in the same family as “Ramie”. Or maybe one called “Dapper Tan”. Knowing me I will end up picking a color called “Shoe Carnival Green” and be upset when it turns out looking like a neon lime. I better ask Sherwin. Or I can continue to call my friend, Brooke, or my sister, Katie, between 6:30am and 7am to make them get out of bed to look at online pictures. I feel really bad about that afterwards (that is plural because it happens at least twice a week – not always about paint but about some unforeseen catastrophe that can only be rectified by early morning phone calls).

I did actually finish one project this week. I had a bit of a melt down over our hall closet. I couldn’t find a spot for Baby Girl’s wash rags and towels. Not that I have bought any yet, but I know that I eventually will (I think I am going crazy worrying about random things like wash rag placement). Anyway, check out my hall closet and you will understand why I am stressed.

I am sure I will regret posting that. Especially since my wax warmer is right there front and center with no lid on it. Nice. So I found some baskets on sale at K-Mart this week and I thought I would do a little reorganizing. Which means I grabbed a bag and loaded it up for the Good Will. I kept the wax warmer. My eyebrows need it more than they do. Here is the finished closet…

Now, who knows how long it will stay looking like this. As of right now everything has a home and there is an empty basket for Baby Girl’s wash rags and bath supplies. I believe I will sleep easier tonight.

Deer Hunting with a Chevy Equinox on the Fourth

2010-07-08T21:40:00.004-05:00

Oh! We had an eventful Fourth of July!!! We went to visit my parents and ended up hitting a deer on the parkway. A big deer. We somehow managed to hit it three times and do “significant” damage to the Equinox according to the collision shop. Thankfully, we were both okay and so is Baby Girl. It was, however, quite an ordeal. Because it was a holiday weekend we had to wait for about two and a half hours on the side of the parkway until Danny from the tow company could come pick us up. Derrick freaked out that someone would drive off of the road and hit us due to rubber necking so he made me sit on a hill on the opposite side of the guard rail.

He stood watch the entire time…such a good husband. I tried to get him to come sit with me so we would both be safe but apparently he is into that whole “Me man…me make fire…me keep preggy wife safe” thing.

By the way, everyone on the road that day should send a thank you note to my counter part, Elizabeth, for getting me this handy dandy fan that sprays water. It is seriously the only thing that kept me from shedding all my clothes off right there in front of God and everyone.

Not that many people stopped to ask if we needed help. I was a little shocked since I am clearly pregnant. We even had a state trooper drive by and we didn’t even get a sympathy wave. A nice lady did stop and tell Derrick that the ticks were really bad this year and I should be careful laying in the weeds. I am sure she was chugging a big glass of ice water that I would have much rather had than the tick advice, but I guess some heartfelt tick concern is better than nothing.

So after Danny got there he took us to the airport to rent a car. This is after he refused to go back and get the deer carcass for some homemade jerky. I can’t turn down a dare and my sister had triple dog dared me to ask him if he minded strapping it to the car for me if I poked it with a stick a couple of times to make sure it was really dead. Danny didn’t think it was as funny as we did. I think he wanted to call the Game Warden on me. So anyway, we rented the car and made it to my parents in time for the holiday!

On the actual Fourth, we got to see the neighborhood parade. All the kids decorate their bikes, four wheelers, golf carts and such and ride them through the streets. It doesn’t draw a huge crowd so our family had to run up and down several streets to stand at different intersections to make it look good for the kids. Derrick didn’t really feel the need to run around the mountainous streets so he just sat and watched the truck while I ran around with my Mom and Aunt Sue.

Let me just tell you, they made it sound a lot easier than it actually was. Once while they were cheering I thought about laying in a ditch that I am pretty sure had some water flowing through it. But then I remembered about the ticks and decided to eat candy off the streets instead. And I managed to get a few pictures of the cousins in the parade.

Hannah and Emily grabbing candy...

Eli trying to drive his tractor on the road as opposed to off the road. Luckily bot parents were there to assist...

Poor fella. His little tractor couldn't catch up with the parade...

Abbie and Chase...

And of course there had to be a moonshine wagon. No Eastern Kentucky parade is complete without one...

And also some pictures of the deer in my parent’s back yard. I feel really bad about the one we hit. Of course all of these guys decided to show up and make it worse on me.

I could feel there little eyes watching me in fear that I would try to take them out with the truck. Okay, maybe it was just my inability to get the lighting right on my camera...

Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Fourth of July!!!!

Getting Schooled (Chaney's and South Warren)

2010-07-01T06:15:00.001-05:00

Last night Derrick and I made a quick run to Chaney’s Dairy Barn again…which seems to be a Wednesday night ritual for us here lately. Very soon I will be able to teach a class on all the flavors they have to offer. Quick picture of the ice cream.

Derrick’s Big Red Rumble (white chocolate ice cream with red velvet cake and chocolate shavings - seriously one of the best things I have ever eaten)…

And my Jersey Brittle (it had crunchy peanut brittle and a praline sauce!)…

Oh, this could become such a bad addiction.

Mine melted before I could eat it all and I had to dump it into a cup. I really did make a mess of myself and sweet Hubby threatened to give me a quick hosing off and he actually had the means to do so...

So after that threat I don’t feel bad about posting this…

He is going to kill me…

Afterwards we ran across the street over to South Warren (the school where he will be teaching and coaching next year). It is HUGE!!! Everyone always talks about how big it is going to be and Derrick told me tonight that it is actually the biggest school in the state. I couldn’t get any pictures of the whole school because of all of the construction trucks, but I did get some of the gym.

Here is the entrance…

The cafeteria (complete with basketball goals – Derrick is in heaven!)…

The Gymnasium…

I made Derrick go stand in the middle of the gym. He looks so small in this big room!

Derrick’s office (complete with a sign for his restroom just in case he forgets what is behind that door)…

Also, they have the ladies room up and running. Thank goodness.

They still have a lot of work to do. I volunteered to help, but he doesn’t seem to think they need me.

Right down the road from South Warren is where Baby Girl will eventually go to school…

It is such a nice area and I cannot wait unitl it is all finished! For the first time ever I am looking forward to the first day of school!!

A "Berry" Special Birthday Party

2010-06-30T21:40:00.001-05:00

Wow! Birthday parties. At the pool. I promise I have never seen anything like it. This weekend Derrick and I went to our very first kid’s birthday party. We are still awestruck. There were hundreds (maybe not quite that many) little ones running and swimming. We seriously stood in the background and took it all in with big stupid smiles on our faces. The whole time I kept thinking to myself, “We are seriously going to have to buy some running shoes and start training now to be able to keep up with Baby Girl.”

My friend Laura invited us to her daughters’ birthday party. Hannah turned 5 and Maggie turned 2 and they had a Strawberry Shortcake theme party. It was too stinking cute. Thankfully I passed my glucose tolerance test this week so that I could have a huge piece of these gorgeous cakes...

I had to ask a million questions. Here are my pearls of wisdom that I am taking away...
1. “Someone watch my child while I cut the cake.” – Laura
2. “All the kids need to dry off before they eat” – Hannah

3. “The hardest part of a birthday party is letting your kids unwrap the presents but not open them. You will lose pieces and be mad at yourself later.” – Valerie

4. “Find a new love for soccer (which is conveniently on the TV located the shade) - Derrick
5. “No joke. Someone watch my child while I cut the cake.” – Laura
6. “Don’t let the ice cream melt on the table.” – Gracie

Ok. Gracie didn’t actually “say” not to let the ice cream melt on the table. But these pictures did…

We had a great time and can’t wait until next year!!! More pictures of the party are here…

A "Berry" Special Birthday Party

It's "Udderly" Delicious

2010-06-16T21:33:00.001-05:00

Chaney’s Dairy Barn. One of my favorite places.

We were trying to figure out what to cook tonight for dinner and honestly, it has just been too hot to cook. I think our air conditioner has been going non-stop for the past five days without shutting off. Every time I even attempt to stand in front of the stove I about pass out from the heat. We decided chicken salad from Chaney’s was a much “cooler” option than cooking.

And where else are you going to get the best ice cream other than an actual dairy farm? I could eat my weight in this stuff. Tonight I had Pralines and Cream…

Derrick had Chocolate Chip (don’t worry, he didn’t get short changed on his ice cream – he just started eating it before we paid for it and this was what was left)…

I love to sit outside here while we eat ice cream. It is absolutely gorgeous and so peaceful.

But check out this old girl. I think she is ready to be milked. But Derrick wasn’t up to it. I tried.

Next time my niece and nephew come up to visit we are going to have to take them here. I think they would love this…

But if for some reason we can’t make it to Chaney’s, we can always hope to see them at another spot in town seeing how they bring the "MOO to YOU”.

After we left we stopped and bought the dogs some squeaky tennis balls. I just have to put a couple of the pictures on here because they were having way too much fun.

Annie is a little bit of a nut for tennis balls. She absolutely will not put hers down for any reason except to try to steal someone else’s. One day she will find a way to fit two in her mouth at once. And even if she doesn’t, I know she will never stop trying : )

Late At Night While You're Sleeping Poison Ivy Comes A Creeping Around

2010-06-06T20:45:00.000-05:00

Derrick’s slight poison ivy breakout is a getting a little worse. One of the areas I had him clear earlier this week apparently had quite a bit of the devil’s vine hiding in there. And this is horrible, we have this “climbing vine” everywhere. I had no idea it was poison ivy. I know “Leaves of Three, Let It Be” but I thought poison ivy had a red tint to it all year long. WRONG! It turns out it is more red in the fall, but in the summer it is often just a green vine. Well, I had Derrick clear out a bunch more of this vine until the guy that mows our lawn told us it was poison ivy. Whoops. I really feel horrible about it because I don’t seem to be allergic and Derrick is about to scratch his skin off. I had to hide all the Brillo Pads and Pumice Stones for fear of what he would do to himself. Anyway, I compared the pictures of ours to some I found online just to make sure.

Online Picture…

Our Picture…

And this stuff has taken over!

Pretty much all of the leaves on this front tree are coming off of the vines…

And here are the vines. How in the world are we supposed to get rid of this? I don’t think round up is going to cut it…

This is part of our backyard. We obviously need to clear this out so we could take advantage of the extra yard, but I do not even want to think about how much poison ivy calls this area “home”.

We have tried all kinds of things to help with the itching. I made a baking soda and vinegar paste, which was helping until Mom and Katie told me to have Derrick wash with Fels-Naptha.

I did break the bar in half because it is enormous and I figure we will need it again considering this is about the third breakout he has had this year. I caught Derrick scrubbing himself with the broken rough edge of the bar. He was so rough he busted some of the blisters open. Poor fella. We are also using Caladryl. I opted for the pink instead of clear because if you are going to have a gross rash you might as well try to make it pretty in pink. Or at least use it to cover up the ugliness of it.

P.S. One thing that does not work is playing/singing at the top of you lungs “Poison Ivy” by The Coasters. It really just gets a look of disapproval, but it’s good for a giggle if you aren’t the one “scratching like a hound….poison ivy, lord’ll make you itch.”

The Nesting Begins...

2010-06-05T21:14:00.002-05:00

I believe I have entered my “nesting” stage! Here lately I have been making MAJOR Honey-Do-Lists for Derrick. I have my own list, but his is much longer and involves much more manual labor. He has been painting, trimming trees, moving furniture and so on. We finally picked a color and have the nursery painted and the furniture assembled and arranged. I still have lots of work to do before Baby girl is here, but it makes me feel a little better knowing she at least has a crib with clean sheets to sleep in.

Katie told me that when I started “nesting” I would get a little crazy. Yep. She was right. I remember her saying, “You won’t understand why you feel like the inside of your hallway bathroom cabinets needs to be repainted. It’s not like your baby is going to look in there and judge you, but you will think it needs to be done anyway. It will need to be done immediately.” Oh, was she right. I got up at 5am this morning because I absolutely had to wash my couch cushions. It had to be done ight then. I woke up about 3am and managed to put it off till 5am, but that was as a late as I could wait. I also felt like all of the weeds needed to be removed from the entire yard. Our flower beds have been taken over by polk, dandelions, wild onions and some other strange looking plants that I have never seen before. Derrick thankfully took care of that for me over the last couple of days. One farmer’s tan and slight breakout of poison ivy later, he has successfully removed most of the weeds (but he assures me the remaining weeds will be gone by next weekend).

We did take a break today so that we could go by the Farmer’s market and get some fresh produce. We have an abundance of green beans, snow peas, peaches, zucchini, yellow squash, several types of tomatoes, corn, fresh baked bread, cheese, potatoes, peppers and onions. Derrick wanted grilled corn tonight so he worked on that while I cooked some zucchini cups. I found a picture on the internet and mixed up a couple of different recipes. We loved them! Very tasty, but best when hot.

Zucchini Cups

- Cut zucchini in thick slices (about an inch or so)
- Hollow zucchini almost all the way through making a cup
- Brush lightly with oil and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes
- Chop the remaining zucchini

- Heat 1 TBSP of butter in a small skillet
- Sauté remaining zucchini, 1 TBSP onion and 1 clove of garlic, minced
- Remove from heat and stir in 1 TBSP of mozzarella and 1 TBSP of fresh parmesan and 2 TBSP of fresh bread crumbs
- Stuff this mixture back into the zucchini cups and bake for 10 minutes
- Finally, top with sliced cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with parmesan cheese

Delicious!!!

After dinner I made peach milkshakes and now we are going to lie down on our freshly washed couch cushions and watch a movie!

Wedding or Baby, I Love A Good Shower

2010-05-29T07:38:00.002-05:00

Busy couple of weekends! I love it when we are busy and have lots to do, but I do miss sleeping. It has become one of my favorite things to do here lately. Growing a baby is a LOT harder than I thought it would be. I love it, but this belly just seems to get in the way of household chores. I can no longer carry a laundry basket the way I used to, getting on my hands and knees to clean the floors is a total event and I don’t even want to talk about scrubbing a bathtub. I think I am going to give up household chores for the next couple of months and let Derrick take over. It should get very interesting at our house…and dusty.

Anyway, I have been to two showers here lately and here they are…

My cousin, Rachel, is getting married to a great guy, Greg, this July. I was able to make it to her wedding shower and it was great! She got so many wonderful gifts and thankfully, she is moving to Louisville after she is married. The reason I am thankful is that I can already tell she is going to need me to come up and help her use all of her lovely gifts…ok, she really doesn’t need me to, but I am volunteering in a heart beat. I have never seen so many fabulous kitchen gifts. I really want to volunteer her to cook Thanksgiving dinner for the family.

I do LOVE watching people open gifts at showers. I know a lot of people hate to open them in front of everyone, but I seriously don’t mind if it takes hours…I want to see everything. Sadly, I didn’t get pictures of all of her goodies because I was a little distracted by these…

And these…

And several of these…

I did get some great “action” pics of Becky Jo. I like to pretend like she is singing here, but really she is just thanking everyone for coming. (But you can almost hear her...I think it ~~looks~~ sounds like Kumbaya complete with hand motions)

Such a good hostess, she was trying to talk to guests and smile in time for my camera flashes (almost)

Here is a great picture of both Rachel and Becky. They looked so pretty and I cannot wait to see them at the wedding. I know they will both be stunning!

And here is my favorite picture of Rachel, Aunt Sue, Becky and our Granny…

And here is one of the ladies in our family that were able to make it. I would like to say that I did not hop up in the front. Granny pushed me. And I am not sure how Rachel managed to end up hiding in the back...at her own shower. We will have to keep an eye out for her on the big day.

And Greg showed up just in time...

Actually, he was a little early. I think he was really excited about all their gifts but you can tell he is wondering how he is going to get all of this home...

After all that fun, I had another one. I had to drive up to Evansville, IN, for a work meeting and they surprised me afterwards with a baby shower!

Baby Girl is going to love her new things! I already have them in the nursery (which I HAVE to get working on today!)

This little fluffy is so sweet! The little baby bunny is actually a rattle. I seriously want to hug on it all day long because it is so soft and cuddly.

And Elizabeth also gave me this nice blanket…GO HILLTOPPERS!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2010-05-09T18:58:00.001-05:00

My first Mother’s Day. Well, I am not really a “mother” yet, but we celebrated anyway. I absolutely cannot wait until next year when we actually have Baby Girl here and are able to thoroughly enjoy holidays like today. This is my first ultrasound when Baby Girl was just a sweet little pea…

This year we stayed in town and spent the afternoon with Derrick’s Mom, Mamaw, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. We also had an unexpected (but very welcomed) visit from our good friends, Wyatt and Lori, who were on their way home to Louisville from Nashville. We loved getting to spend today with family AND friends!

We were very low key. These days we love “simple” especially since every time we get about half way through ANY project, I seem to need a nap. Sometimes I will own it and admit that I need some down time. Other times, Derrick has to kindly tell me that I “seem to be getting a little tired and I should lay down for a bit” which is a nice way of saying “Hey, you ole nasty witch…Why don’t you go take a nap so I don’t have to be around your horrible hind end.” He denies that is what he means, but I know the truth. Sometimes I tend to get cranky and these hormones are just gasoline to a fire.

Anyway, we grilled out some steak sandwiches and they were tender! They were juicy! They were seasoned wonderfully!

I have to make sure that I point out how yummy the steak was, seeing how it was one of the things that had me all tore up today. I laid down for a little nap and when I woke up Derrick had cut the steak in a different way than what I had planned on cutting it. You would have thought the world was coming to an end. I threw a major hissy fit. It was BAD. Mom ended up calling right in the middle of it and calmed me down. How about that for a “Happy Mother’s Day” phone call. She is a keeper. Whenever I overreact she usually just asks if she needs to mail Derrick some Band-Aides…since she figures I just ripped his head off. Although that is an awful thing to admit about myself, it is the truth and I am always sorry. Thankfully, he is always forgiving.

So on with the meal….

These are actually a new recipe for me. They are Zucchini Patties. They were really good but I think I may change up the recipe some before I make them again...

For dessert I made these little jars. One is fruit and pound cake and the other is brownies and chocolate chips. I made enough for everyone to have one of each but apparently I am the only (pregnant) one that thinks 2 (pint size) desserts are completely normal after a meal (disgusting display of over-eating). They ended up being really cute and tasty. I am sure Derrick and I will manage to polish off the left overs within the next day or so….

As for the babies I currently have in my life, they are tuckered out from having guests and table scraps. Maggie...

Annie...

Charlie...

And Winks...

Another quick note, Derrick and I were in the nursery showing his Mom and Mamaw Baby Girl’s wardrobe when we heard a noise. We were sure that someone had helped themselves to a bite of steak or two but we were wrong. Charlie actually ate a pound cake. The whole thing. Well, almost the whole thing…

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

The Poet Laureate of Dogwood Lane

2010-05-04T19:04:00.000-05:00

One of my all time favorite movies is Steel Magnolias and one of my all time favorite quotes is when Shelby tells M’Lynn, “Remember what Daddy always says, an ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure.” And My’Lynn responds with, “The Poet Laureate of Dogwood Lane.”

I was on the phone this morning with my Papaw and I am totally convinced that he is the Poet Laureate of Mt. Savage Drive. We were talking about church and what is considered the “right” way to live your life (we were talking about mine in particular). He kindly said, “Kel, don’t ever forget that Heaven is far away and Hell can’t wait to get you.” I do believe this to be true and I want to make sure that I live my life for the right reasons and that I live my life for Him. Just a thought I wanted to share.

P.S. Even more reasoning why Papaw is the Poet Laureate is after he told me this, he followed it with “At least that is what they always tell me.” And then I heard one of the deepest, full body laughs I have ever heard from him. He knows he has a spot in Heaven :)