Tim and Brandie

A LOT has changed in just 4 years

2010-07-29T08:27:00.004-05:00

Four years ago at this moment, I was still Brandie Goldman. I had been this person for 30 years. In a few hours, I was about to become Brandie Penrose, and I wasn't quite sure what all life would hold for me, as I became a married woman. But, I was willing, eager, and excited to find out! Four years ago, I had never met a Drew or a Lexie. I didn't know what all God had in store for us, where would we live, would we have kids, what gender would they be, who would they look like.

It all started with this:

It's funny how time changes things, and how you change with time. 30 years ago, I thought about different things, I did different things, and I had a really great life. But, now......as crazy as life is with 2 small little ones.....this life is SO much sweeter.... Can't imagine my life without these 3 people in it, and I look forward to a lifetime of new memories with my little family.

And, became something like this:

Long time, no post...yeah yeah

2010-07-01T19:11:00.002-05:00

So, it's been forever since I last posted something here, literally over a year. I know, I'm horrible. But, since everyone I know is on Facebook, then I don't really see the need to post pictures and whatnot over here too. So, obviously, all of the pics and details on this page need to be updated. But, that's not what has sparked my interest to write tonight.

I just bought Drew this collection of Disney stories because he needs a book with more words, and I thought, hey, why not...all of the old classics are in here, it will be cute.

Well, so we started out with Beauty and the Beast (have no idea why he chose that one). One page in, and we already have 3 fairies and a witch on the scene. Ok, well, I'm not reading that to my almost three year old son. Next story he chose was Pinocchio. What could possibly go wrong with that story? It has a good morale - if you tell lies, your nose gets bigger. Good story, right???

Well, not too far into this story, guess what appears but another fairy. Seriously?? Can we just have a nice story with no fairies or witches? And, then a few more pages in, and Jimminy Cricket arrives to be Pinocchio's "conscience".

Ok, so here are my issues with this story. The fairy giving life to Pinocchio saying "wake, the gift of life be thine". The ONLY story I want to read about giving life to someone is one about God. And, a cricket as someone's conscience??? That would be God again.....And, then to top this story off, the dad gets swallowed up by a whale?? I mean, come on....can you say Jonah?

Maybe I should just enjoy the story for what it is, a tell about lying and your nose growing. But, I SERIOUSLY have some issues with this story. I may just be taking this book back to the store sooner than later. We are already 0/2.

Disney 2009 Day 1 and 2

2009-06-03T13:19:00.025-05:00

Disney pics from our May trip with friends and family.

Drew is packed up and ready to go. He now has his very own suitcase, "case" as he calls it. He packed it all by himself with toys and books, he was quite proud. Of course, he does have plenty of experience from watching his parents pack/unpack frequently for work trips.

At the airport in NC.

On the plane.

Oh WOW! We're here!

Drew and cousin Cooper. Drew looks deep in a conversation.

We had dinner with Cinderella and Prince Charming. Here are Maddy, Drew, and Cooper before dinner.

Drew and Tim.

Me and Drew.

Drew was not a fan of Prince Charming. His look says it all :).

He was also not a fan of the mouse :). He actually wasn't a fan of any characters, as you'll see in the pics.

Drew with Gee.

Tim and Jeremy.

Me and Jennifer.

What's so funny?

End of day 2.

Random old pics

2009-06-02T15:05:00.010-05:00

Pic of when little man was sick back in April, he had up to 103 temp for a couple of days. All he wanted to do was lay on the couch and "tuck tuck" and watch Thomas the Train, or as he calls it "choo choo".

Tim and Drew grilling out. This has become a weekend tradition now that summer is here.

Of course, Drew always feels that the floors need to be swept. He tries to clean up after his parents :).

We got to attend a birthday party for one of Drew's daycare friends. I think I was more excited than he was about getting invited! Of course, Drew went NUTS about the BUBBLES!!! He kept running around screaming "BUBBLES and OH WOW!!!!".

Drew did not like this game, where you were put in the tent and slug around.

Me and Drew.

Atlanta Aquarium

2009-04-09T14:30:00.013-05:00

So, on our way back home to NC from MS, we stopped over in Atlanta for the night. Drew was not happy about being in the car, and we kinda wanted to go to the aquarium anyway....so we decided to take the detour. Drew had SO much fun in the hotel room! He was running around everywhere and squealing!

WOW! Lots of fish!

Pooped Out.

Christmas...yes, there is more

2009-04-09T14:15:00.015-05:00

Ok, trying to finish up here.

Mischievous.

Pretty blues.

About as good as it will get with 2 kiddos.

Tried SSSOOOO hard to get the PERFECT shot. Never quite got it.

Silly.

Hmmmmm, what should I play?

A natural!! Perfect posture and hand position!

Another Christmas Post

2009-03-27T22:20:00.003-05:00

Here's more pics from Christmas. I'm hopeful that I'll only have 1-2 more Christmas photo albums to post! Then, I can move onto newer pics.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Video posts

2009-03-23T10:12:00.001-05:00

So, while I'm in the process of still uploading Christmas pictures, I did post some new videos to the right that are more current. These were taken almost a month ago, but in my book, that makes them "current" :).

As you'll see little man is a walking, talking, active toddler. He never sits still! And, he LOVES to clean!! I swear, his favorite things are sweeping, vacuuming, and taking out the trash. If he sees someone headed to the trash can, and he didn't get to help, watch out for the toddler tantrum! This cleaning video is one of the only times that he actually let me put a swiffer pad on the swiffer, he's not much of a fan of ACTUALLY cleaning, he just wants to play. He calls the swiffer and the broom his "help". He'll go to the pantry and ask for his "help". Too cute.

We have many more videos and pics of current stuff, so I'm trying to get caught up again.

Christmas Day in MS

2009-03-21T10:47:00.002-05:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas 2008 in NC and TN

2009-03-17T20:33:00.002-05:00

So, I found it to be much more fun to post pictures using smilebox vs manually posting a ton of pics to the blog. Sad that it's middle of March, and I'm just now posting pics. But, smilebox was fun, so maybe now I can get caught up. When you are SO far behind, just too much of a challenge to even know where to start.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Finally...Christmas Pics

2009-02-06T16:16:00.004-05:00

I know I'm horribly behind, been crazy busy! Anyway, here are some Christmas pics. I'll try to keep adding and update everyone.

We had help decorating the tree this year.

Fuzzy pic, but he liked the lights more than anything!

Finished product.

Thanksgiving in TN

2008-12-17T13:24:00.007-05:00

We were able to make it over to TN for Thanksgiving this year to visit with Tim's family. We all had a good time, and Drew especially loved spending time with cousin Cooper!

Drew had SO much fun playing on the slide at Gees. Our arms were about to fall off from him wanting to go over and over...

With 2 kiddos, really hard to get a good picture. This was about the best that we could get.

As you may already know, Drew loves the play areas at the mall. The REALLY good thing about this mall in TN is that the play area isn't crowded. So, Drew could just play and play without me worrying that he will get ran over by a big kid. We all had fun. And, we found out that he LOVES tunnels :).

More Pics

2008-12-16T16:42:00.007-05:00

Trying to play with 2 toys at once.

I'm a real man. The first thing Drew asks for in the morning (of course after his milk) is for the remote control. Man, oh man....what have we started. He loves his morning cartoons.

Drew Dancing Video

2008-12-14T21:03:00.001-05:00

So, no time to post pictures, but I did post a video of Drew dancing :).

More Playing...

2008-12-10T09:43:00.007-05:00

So, we took Drew to a kids play place in town. This is also where we shot the video of him walking. Drew took a little while to warm up to the place, but once he got started moving, you couldn't stop him!

All pooped out.

Time for some McAlisters :).

Playtime

2008-12-09T20:34:00.005-05:00

I said I would never take my child to the play area at the mall, a place I call the "germ pit". Well, as I have already learned many times being a parent, never say "never" :).

Here we are, and he loved every minute of it!

Day at the Zoo

2008-12-03T12:46:00.008-05:00

We all went to the zoo Halloween weekend. It was our first time to take Drew to a zoo, so we had a lot of fun!

Here he is on the way there...

What's this thing?

His first time to on a "ride". He loved this ride; he just laughed and laughed.

Then we had a little time on the carousel.

Saw some animals and called it a day. Had a great time!

Ribbit, ribbit

2008-12-02T15:15:00.008-05:00

Here are our Halloween pics. I'm hoping to get caught up with the blog this week, so hang in there.

A Pause to Consider Others

2008-11-21T13:09:00.003-05:00

So, this is not our typical post; however, I feel it is quite appropriate. As you know, the economy is not the best, and this is unfortunately effected my employer as well. We found out this week that our company (as many others) are having to take cost-cutting measures. Of this, we are being "forced" to take some vacation during December. While some may see this as an opportunity to spend more time relaxing with friends/family (of which I agree), others will not see this "opportunity" in such a way.

This post is about those other people.

Our company hires contractors to provide services to our facility. This involves the cleaning crews and the cafeteria crews. These groups of people found out today that if they do not have enough vacation saved to last during this shut-down period in December, that they will be forced to stay home with-out pay.

When I first heard the announcement, shamefully I must admit it didn't really sink in. It wasn't until I was standing in line in the cafeteria, waiting to pay for lunch, when I saw the lady in front of me. That's when it hit me. The look on her face spoke a million words of "how am I going to pay for my kids presents?", "how will I pay my bills?", "why at this time of the year?".

I had to fight back tears. So many people in this country work where hourly wages are imperative to their survival. Unfortunately, it is this same group of people who when the economy turns, they are the first effected. These people in my building did nothing wrong, they have come to work everyday, and now they have found out that 2 weeks of pay (during Christmas, no less) most likely will be taken from them.

I just ask that as we enter into this holiday season that we remember that a lot of people out there are not wondering "should I buy this toy or that", "should I go do this or that". These people are just praying that they can pay their bills and maybe still have enough to buy their babies at least one gift.

Happy Birthday Graham!!

2008-11-19T10:40:00.001-05:00

We wanted to take a minute to say Happy Birthday to Graham, who turned 1 today!! We can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Drew Walking!

2008-11-16T21:13:00.001-05:00

I've attached a video from this past weekend of Drew walking. He just started this past week, and he still needs TONS of prodding before he'll walk. Of course, he'll only take a couple of steps each time before falling. Oh well. At least he's making progress!

Playing, Reading, and Eating...all my favorites

2008-11-14T15:25:00.004-05:00

Rough days being a boy

2008-11-14T15:18:00.003-05:00

So, Drew had a collision with a bookshelf at school and didn't win. Poor thing got his first black eye.

I think it looked MUCH worse than these pictures show. The whole side of his face was swollen and red. Poor baby. I felt so bad for him.

More Updates

2008-11-14T15:07:00.007-05:00

I love my little hammer and helping Daddy.

I like to walk while holding hands, but not too sure about walking by myself yet.

Nonnie and Poppie came to visit.

This picture is horrible quality, but I thought the pose was cute. We are still trying to figure out how to use our new camera :(.

Fun with Birthday Toys

2008-10-31T08:05:00.012-05:00

Once we got home from our travels in September, Drew had SO much fun getting to play with all of his new bday toys! You have to watch this video of him on the right. He LOVES playing with this toy, but I think most of all, he just likes the hammer. He goes around and "hammers" everything. Also in the video, you can see his mad ball throwing skills. Future pitcher anyone?? :)

I love my new ride!

When I get tired of playing with my toys, there is always the cabinets. I'm quite the inquisitive little one...which also means I get into trouble often.

Just too cute.

I like to read my books!

We get a lot of looks like this one. Drew points at something and says "dat"? He's very curious. He's constantly asking questions - "what's that" or in Drew language - "dat"?

After a hard day of playing, I need a nap. He loves his puppy and, of course, his thumb.

Go Vote!

2008-10-30T12:16:00.003-05:00

I interrupt the pictures and Drew updates to encourage everyone to vote!

Never before have I lived in a state where I thought my single vote actually matter. Well, this is no longer true. Here in the state of NC, the presidential race is extremely close. While I know that my single vote will not all by itself influence the outcome of the US election, I do feel that every vote here in the state of NC will effect which way NC goes in the election.

With 15 electoral votes up for grabs, the state of NC has gotten attention in this presidential race like never before. So, our little state has become part of the "toss-up" states like FL, OH, and MO. Also important to note, the last time that NC voted Democrat in the presidential election was 1976. And, being a Republican, I find it disconcerting that this Southern state is at the moment leaning Obama.

As I was standing in line today to early-vote, many memories were brought to mind. I thought of when I was 18 and went with my Dad to the courthouse to vote for my first time. I was so excited and nervous! But, from that time until today, I must admit, I've had a very lackadaisical attitude toward the election process. But, for me, that changed today. As I stood in line, surprisingly, I was over-whelmed with emotion. At that moment, I was proud to be a US citizen and honored to have the right to vote. As my Econ teacher in high school used to say "it is not a RIGHT, it is a DUTY".

So, I'll get off my rant about voting, but I was proud to given the opportunity to vote in this election. And, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed until the winner is announced! It will be a long night at our house Nov 4th, since if you know my husband, he likes to stay up and watch the votes roll in. It's never over until it's over! I sat up with him as long as I could during the 2000 election, but noone can hang with this guy :).

Drew's 2nd birthday party

2008-10-27T15:39:00.008-05:00

Drew was fortunate enough this year to get to have 2 birthday parties! We passed through TN on the way back home from our Labor Day trip to MS and got a chance to see Tim's family. So, we were all excited to have a 2nd party! I must say, this little puppy dog cake was delicious!

Drew loves this little car.

Tim, Drew, and cousin Cooper.

Drew had a great first birthday! How many kids get to have 2 parties for their birthday? Of course, we told him not to expect multiple parties every year :).

More fun in MS

2008-10-24T13:52:00.011-05:00

We stayed a few days in MS over Labor Day, here are some more pics.

Drew and Papa having a quiet talk.

Drew and Dad.

Me and Drew.

This is my unhappy/mad face. See, not always smiling.

Drew and Nonnie.

I had to go on a work trip while we were in MS. So, Tim and Drew took the opportunity to run up to Memphis to see some dear friends. I just love this picture of Drew. He's just hanging out at the Nobles house. He looks so big in this picture in the big boy chair. Man, flash-forward another 2-3 years and this will be my little baby sitting at the table while I make breakfast - no more high chairs :(.

It's my Birthday....

2008-10-10T15:25:00.027-05:00

And, my mash cake.

Well, it was his birthday anyway. Mama is late (as usual) posting the pics. Well, since we were back in MS over Labor Day, we decided to have Drew's bday party a little early to accomodate everyone. And, lucky him, this way he ended up getting to have multiple parties!

One thing you may notice throughout these pictures - Drew wasn't exactly thrilled to be having a party. The litle stinker barely smiled at all :(. Maybe it was because he was tired from not napping all day? Could be. Oh well.

Drew with Nonnie.

Graham, Drew, Nonnie, and Poppi.

Justin, Rebecca, and Graham.

Me, Dad, and Drew.

Our little family.

Aunt Kiley and Granny.

All the kiddos.

Future MSU grad.

Graham thought he should help out, since he was in training for his own bday party in a couple of months :).

Me and Rebecca.

Time for the Party!

I REALLY don't like this hat Mom!

A little better, but I still don't like the bib either.

Papa, what is this stuff?

Why are my hands blue?

I'm done! Get me out of here!!

Still don't like the hat.

Yeah, the party is over. I enjoyed my bday, but I really need a nap.

I love this little man

2008-10-06T10:33:00.003-05:00

I am completely smitten and hopelessly in love with this little guy. He has certainly got his mama wrapped around his finger. When he looks at me and says "Mama" or when he crawls over to show me something or pull up beside me, aahhh...my heart melts. I've gotten all sentimental now that he's one, and I'm afraid that these days are passing too quickly. I'd hate to look back at this special time and realize that I forgot to just stop and enjoy my son. We've had a lot of time to bond here lately, and I think we may be buds :).

I know this next year will pass even more quickly than his first. And, I know that one day soon he'll not want me to hold him, and I won't be his buddy anymore. But, for now, I'm trying to steal all of the hugs and kisses that he'll allow. Which, as he's becoming more mobile and stronger, is getting more difficult to do :(.

I can only imagine how it will feel when he's actually able to look at me and tell me he loves me back. I'm sure I'll really cry on that day :).

Hide and Seek

2008-09-28T16:00:00.006-05:00

So, Drew loves to be chased! He also loves opening and closing doors, so Hide and Seek has quickly become his favorite game :).

Trying to chase mama.

Trying to hide.

Then, he got tired of that game and went back to his other favorite past-time. This mat starts everyday out being completely straight and put together. You see what it looks like at the end of the day :).

Random pics and my First Haircut!!

2008-09-26T15:28:00.014-05:00

I wasn't doing anything - promise.

Cute as pie.

Before haircut.

I don't know what this thing is on my, but getting to watch TV is pretty cool.

What's she doing to my ear?

Don't think I like this anymore.

Ok, I was fine until she pulled the clippers out. Those REALLY scared me!!

Here is the "Mama, help me..." face. It was SO sad. I was almost in tears myself.

Thank goodness that's over!

I even got a little certificate!

Some Old Pics

2008-09-13T20:03:00.020-05:00

So, I'm trying to get back on-top of this blog. I'm really late posting these pics. Sorry. Here are some from August.

Drew's new favorite game - opening and closing doors, cabinets, anything! Poor baby has smashed his fingers more times than I can count, but this game never gets old.

We went to Gulf Shores, AL to vacation with my family. On the way down there, we ended up needing to stay a night in a hotel, Drew was SO excited. It was his first time in a hotel, and when we got into the room, he was crawling around everywhere exploring. It was really funny. Here's a pic of him before we all checked in.

Also, a few new thing...looking outside. All of the windows at our house are too high for Drew to peep out, but my brother's house was just perfect. Drew spent a lot of time sitting in this position while at my brother's house.

Papa and his boys.

Drew and Graham having fun in the mirror. Graham is an old pro at this activity, but this was Drew's first time, and he thought it was hilarious!

If the boys were a few years older, this picture wouldn't be appropriate. But, for now, they were super cute taking a bath together!

Me, Dad, and Drew.

At the beach!!!
Here's a pic of Nonnie, Poppie, and Drew.

Picture of us. Drew wasn't too excited about picture taking by this point.

Me, Mom, and my brother Justin.

Justin, Rebecca, and Graham.

Morning Playtime.

Hey, what's that?

I have a funny video of Drew that I will try to post soon from this beach trip. So, check back for that.

Photo Shoot

2008-09-09T20:21:00.006-05:00

So, I haven't written in forever, but since Brandie is a bit behind, I wanted to let you all know that Drew got his one-year-old pictures taken (a couple of weeks early) this past weekend. The photographer Erin Cobb is amazing. We traveled all the way to Huntsville for these pictures, and based on the preview on Erin's site, I'm sure we'll be back in the future many times. I can only fathom how much our wallets and the grandparents' wallets will empty on these. :)

http://photographybyerin.typepad.com/photography_by_erin/2008/09/out-of-towners.html

We'll get back to updating the site more regularly soon. We have both been traveling like crazy lately. Take care!

Almost Caught Up...

2008-08-06T08:46:00.005-05:00

So, here are the last of the "old" pictures, then I can start staying on-top of picture posting.

Is this not just the cutest little face. I know he's my kid, so I especially think he's just adorbale. But, I just can never get enough of this little guy!! Here he is doing one of his new favorite things - exploring our closets in the morning to find shoes :).

And, here's one of me and Drew.

He's on the MOVE!

2008-08-04T08:14:00.002-05:00

He's CRAWLING!!! YEAH!!! About 3 weeks ago (the same time we got the balloons for him), Drew started crawling. Ok, maybe not actually belly-off-the-ground, but who cares! He's on the MOVE! He had gotten MUCH, MUCH faster too. He's just hilarious! Everyone kept saying when your baby can crawl, life gets more "interesting". Now, we know what they mean. Drew is into EVERYTHING! Nothing is safe! Especially of interest to him are the door-stops. If you don't watch him, he'll scurry over to every doorstop in the house and try to eat the plastic part off. He thinks he's so sneaky, but we are always watching. He's so cute, he'll chase you around the house and giggle the entire time that he's "after-you".

There's a new video on the right of him crawling about 2 weeks ago. He's gotten much faster, but we don't have any new videos :(. And, BTW, I swear, the kids owns pants although he never seems to have any pants on during the videos. Oh well :).

Drew's new toy

2008-08-02T09:16:00.002-05:00

Drew loves balloons, everytime we are in the grocery store, he's constantly staring at the balloons on the registers. So, Tim brought home a pack of "punch" balloons, and you would have thought Drew won the lottery. Of course, I was excited to see that Drew much preferred a $2.00 "toy" to the $25+ that we usually buy! Note to self - try the cheap, "home-made" toys first :).

You have to watch the videos of Drew playing with the balloon; he is SO happy and excited!! They are just precious!

More Catching Up

2008-07-31T18:32:00.008-05:00

My boys clowing around.

Drew loves his rocking motorcycle!

Pic of the family on my birthday.

Watch the video of Tim and Drew playing. Drew just loves, loves his Daddy.

My, It's Been a Fast 2 years!

2008-07-30T19:52:00.006-05:00

So, I know I'm behind catching everyone up with Drew, but I interrupt to celebrate our 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!! Yesterday was our 2 year wedding anniversary, and my, haven't things changed over the past couple of years. We've had an exciting first 2 years together - we both changed jobs, moved cities, bought a house, had a baby, and finished an MBA all within 2 years! WOW! What's next? :)

Some may say "wow, only married 2 years and already have a 10 month old"? YEP! And, we wouldn't have it any other way. Our lives may be crazy, busy, but we love every minute of it!

Just to reminisce, us then:

And now we are a family of 3 with our little man, Drew.

Drew's First Beach Trip!!

2008-07-25T10:07:00.008-05:00

So, over July 4th, we went with some friends to the NC beaches. We all had a great time, and the beaches were nice! Drew LOVED the sand, but I don't think he was a fan of the ocean (See VIDEO). It was way too big and scary for him :(. Here are some really cute pics though. Drew loved his little tent, which was a necessity for a baby at the beach!! We were all sweaty, sweaty messes (especially Drew) for our long drive back home. Also, I don't know if you can tell in these pictures or not, but at this time, Drew had 3 teeth and almost 4.

He also loved his new beach toys. Of course, he thought they were for chewing :).

This WAS the beginnings of a sandcastle, but Drew thought it would be more fun to just cover his legs with the sand instead.

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but Drew was completely covered with sand. And, if you know us, being covered with sand wasn't exactly what Momma and Daddy had in mind :). I'm more of a "sit at the pool and overlook the beach" kind of person, since I'm NOT a fan of the sand :). I guess that will change now?

We also went to some friend's house for a July 4th party over the weekend. Drew LOVED their outside swing set. Looks like he may be asking Daddy to put one together soon for him :).

More MS Fun!

2008-07-25T07:42:00.012-05:00

So, after the Goldman reunion, the 3 of us spent a few more days in MS at my Moms. Tim and I got to have a "free day" and went up to Starkville! It was so much fun to see how much the MSU campus has changed and of course, to eat at our favorite place :).

The new student union.

Drew and Poppy.

Me and Drew.

Tim and Drew.

I thought this one was funny - Drew and the banana tree.

Drew and Nonny.

Goldman Reunion

2008-07-20T19:25:00.021-05:00

So, if you've seen any of my cousin's blogs, then you've probably already read about the Goldman reunion back in June. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, let me explain :).

The Goldman reunion is an annual event where all of my Dad's family gathers for a weekend of good ole' family fun. I know you may laugh, but it really is a ton of fun! We have such a HUGE group, there must be 40 of us, or at least close to it. And, with the addition of all of the new babies, it was even more fun this year than ever!! And, it was Tim's first year to attend, so everyone was really happy about that!

Drew giving Papa some kisses (his kisses are licks these days) :).

Me and my Dad.

Drew with Aunt Kiley.

Here was our "home" for a few days. Yogi cabin #5.

It was like ToysRUS in this cabin with all of Drew's and Graham's toys. There were having a ball!

Here's the fam. At least some were looking :).

The happy little family.

My brother, Rebecca, and Graham.

What's a family reunion without some friendly competition. Here we had to make a dress from newspaper. Rebecca (on the far left) was the winner! YEAH! She was in our group. We won on style and fit :).

Tim and Drew.

Drew loved this toy of Grahams. The boys were too funny. Graham liked all of Drew's toys, and Drew wanted all of Grahams. Drew never quite got the hang of hitting the ball with the bat. He preferred to just hit himself or others :).

Some of the kiddos. Once again, impossible to get everyone looking.

Granny and the boys.

This pic is not clear, but I thought it was cute anyway.

I'll be posting some videos also, so check back later for them on the right hand side.

Fathers Day

2008-07-20T19:19:00.003-05:00

So, I'm really, really late with posting these days. Hopefully I'll get caught up this week. Here are Tim and Drew on their first Fathers Day. I love my boys!!

Fun Times in MS

2008-07-08T11:46:00.031-05:00

So, I had to go to MS for work back a few weeks ago, and Drew got to tag along and visit the grandparents. He had a blast hanging out with the grandparents without Mom and Dad. Of course, we missed him like crazy! Here are some pics from that week.

What's this stuff?

Me, Mom, and my great-grandmother.

Me and Papa.

Just me being cute.

Nothing like some good, old-time favorites - plastic bowl and spatula.

Me and my cousin Graham. I may only be a little bit taller than Graham (who's 2 months younger), but I've got the heavy-weight category under wraps!

See my tooth...

How sweet is this?

The boys with Papa and Granny.

Drew loved, loved this little car toy of Grahams. Almost every picture that we have is of Drew playing with this toy. Here are (in order) Drew, Braylee (my friend Olivia's daughter), Madeline (my friend Amy's daughter), and Graham (my brother's son). It was SO much fun having my best friends, my brother/sister-in-law , and all of our kids in one place!!

Of course, none of the Moms are looking, but the kiddos were.

My brother, me, and our 2 kids.

Drew with my Mom (Nonny).

Drew with Poppie.

The many faces of Drew, some of which he learned while at the grandparents! I know, I know, we made a lot of pictures in the same outfit. But, I really like this outfit :).

More Pics

2008-06-25T07:33:00.005-05:00

This is one way to trap an 8 month old so you can get ready in the mornings :). Don't worry grandparents - we've only done this maybe once or twice. But, Drew doesn't seem to mind it, and it's one way to help with the separation anxiety in the mornings while we're running around getting ready for work.

My Daddy is so funny!

Disney 2008 - Part 2

2008-06-21T12:38:00.034-05:00

Ok, so finally, here are the rest of the Disney pics. Sorry for the delay.

I'm ready for swimming.

Pics with Gee (Tim's Mom).

What's this stuff? A big bathtub? Whatever it is, I really, really like it!!

Us with Jennifer and Jeremy.

Drew's first time to sit in a "big boy chair" at a restaurant. He was SO excited!!

Papa and Granny happened to be in Orlando the same time we were for a couple of days. So, Drew enjoyed getting to see them one afternoon.

Drew had a lot of "firsts" on this trip. His first experience with a balloon. He LOVES balloons now. Anytime we see one somewhere, he's fascinated.

At the Animal Kingdom, Jennifer with Becky and Nathan (Tim's sister and brother-in-law).

We're pooped out. Drew with his cousin Cooper.

Morningtime fun.

Group shots:
Just impossible to get everyone looking at the same time with this many people and kids. Oh well. Drew wasn't looking in this picture, but it was the best one of everyone else. Here we have Nathan, Becky, and Cooper on the left. Then, Merilyn and Ricky (Tim's Mom and Uncle), then us, then Jeremy, Jennifer, and Maddy. Next year, we'll have another Baby Holley in this clan. It will be so much fun to see how to fit everyone into this same picture as the years go by, and more and more kids are added. Good Times.

It was getting late, and Drew was getting quite tired. He was still trying his best to smile.

Well, the point was to see how long they all were for record keeping. But, Drew wasn't cooperative. So, we have an 8 month old, almost a 3 year old, and little over 2 year old.

We'll see how big they all are next year.

Disney 2008 - Part 1

2008-06-06T09:08:00.028-05:00

So, finally here are our vacation pics, sorry it's taken so long. I've been travelling like crazy for work, so no time for posting on the blog. These pics are from our Disney vacation with Tim's family.

Drew's first flight. He was such a trooper getting up at 4am to make it to our flight on time.

As you can see, he didn't stay awake too long. He's almost too big to stretch out like this much longer.

Fist day attempt to making it to the park. Here we are at the resort waiting on the bus. When it took the bus over an hour to get there, little man was pooped, so we decided to try the park another day. So goes Disney with a baby :).

Fun times in the morning.

This is Ms. Maddy, our friends Jennifer and Jeremy's daughter.
She took a very keen interest in Drew, which is a good thing since she'll very soon be a big sister! Drew affectionately became known as "Baby Drew" for the rest of the trip :).

This isn't the best picture of Drew, but he had just learned about 1 week before how to clap. He was SO proud of himself, he would clap at anything.

Welcome to Disney World, little man. Drew didn't know quite what to think about Chip and Dale.

Our friends, Jeremy and Jennifer with their baby, Maddy.

Some group shots:

Too precious.

I'm getting tired people, but I'm still cute as can be :).

This about sums up Day 1 at Disney :).

Mothers Day

2008-05-29T18:27:00.004-05:00

So, I've been super busy lately with work and travelling and haven't posted in a while. Here's a quick post about my first Mothers Day.

We had a great weekend!! Tim surprised me by taking me on a date!! It was our first date since before Drew was born, so I was SUPER excited. We had some friends coming over to watch a movie that evening and hang out...well right before they got here, Tim gave me a card that said our friends were going to be our babysitters for the night, and we were going out!! YEAH!! I couldn't believe it. I've know Tim for over 8 years now, and he continues to surprise me :). We had a fabulous dinner at the Melting Pot (one of my all-time favorite restaurants). It was the best Mothers Day ever.

Also, the other really neat thing is that the last time Tim and I were at the Melting Pot was the weekend after we had our ultrasound and found out that we would be having a baby boy.

I love my little family. I couldn't imagine life without them. I hate Tim and I didn't get a picture of our big date night. I guess we were so eager to dash out of the house when we had our chance that we forgot to snap some pictures of us all dressed up. Oh well, here's another of me and Drew.

Fun at Gee's and More Pics

2008-05-05T19:05:00.012-05:00

So, Tim and Drew went to see Gee (Tim's mom) while I was in California. It was a boy's road trip, I'm sure the first of many that will occur. I missed them SO much, but they had a great time.

Here's a pic of Gee, Drew, and Cooper (Drew's cousin). Tim said Drew thought Cooper was cool, he kept touching him all weekend (much like in the picture). Cooper and Drew had a lot of fun playing with trucks. Drew had never seen trucks before, so he was very excited to see some new toys!

Drew is such a big boy, sleeping in his little PJs. His new thing is sleeping on his side and hugging "little pup". It is just precious. Our little baby is growing up.

Here are some from this past weekend. Sorry that the pics of me always look so awful. On the weekends, I just can not seem to make myself fix my hair and put makeup on :).

This was Drew's first day of Sunday School, and he was not a fan of wearing shoes. It was just so cute when we put them on him and then picked him up. He kept staring down at the shoes like, "hey, these are coming with us?" He then spent the rest of the day trying to take them off.

Oh My, I have gotten big! For comparison, this is from Drew's ride home from the hospital, and then now as a 7.5 month old. He's getting too big for his carseat! His feet hang way off, and his poor little head is almost out of room too! He's a healthy, happy little boy. We love him more than I ever thought could be possible :).

The Quest for General Sherman

2008-05-01T00:06:00.004-05:00

So, to preface this post, I am in no way an "outdoorsy/nature" girl. I don't hike. I don't camp. And, my idea of roughing it is having to stay at a Holiday Inn. However, when you've been hearing the same presentation all day long for 3 days in a row, and when you're eating Mexican food for lunch and dinner daily, ANYTHING sounds more exciting than that.

Oh, BTW, I'm in California this week, for those who didn't already know.

Anyway, so there was talk of driving over to see the Sequoia National Forest, and I'm thinking "Road Trip"!!! Yeah, let's go! It will be like old times in college (except with coworkers), but still, it should provide some excitement, right?

So, it should take "about an hour" to get there, so we were told. Well, that may have been accurate, but it was an hour to the ranger station. NOONE cared to tell us that the trees were then 17 miles up to the elevation of 6000ft on curvy mountain roads.

About 1/2 up this mountain is when we started asking, "how much farther"? So, we pull out the map which says about 10 more miles. Fine, we thought. We'll be there soon (since we were yet to the curvy roads). So, we were all making it fine, having fun, and then that all changed. We suddenly started climbing very steep roads with no railings on the outside of the roads. I swear, I was terrified!! And, the guy driving was FLYING around the mountain. (Ok, he may have been going 10-15mph, but it felt more like 60mph).

This was about the time when I started saying "I want to go back". Well, being "almost there", we trudged on. I'd like to note here that never before in my life had I seen curvy road signs that looked like an upside down U. YEAH, there were plenty of those on this journey.

So, after about an hour since entering the park, we finally arrive at the huge sequoia trees. YEAH! We can finally get out of the car, and we've reached our destination. So, we start looking around for the General Sherman tree. This tree is the oldest living tree in the world, and it's base is 40ft in diameter. So, how is it that we couldn't see the tree??

WELL, AGAIN, what noone told us was that "once you reach the area, you then have to hike 0.5 mile to the tree". Right. It was getting dark, it was 35 degrees, and I was the only one with a coat. There were signs everywhere to "be friendly to the bears". What little courage I had left from what I'd already experienced to reach the tree area was then diminished. The last thing I wanted to do was go on a hike and become bear food.

But, off we went. I must say, it was worth it. This tree was amazing, truly breath-taking. We all had a lot of fun taking pictures (which I'll have to post later). But, man, had I know all that it would take to experience this, I don't know if I would have been up for the challenge.

Oh, and just to make the experience even better, on the way down the crazy, curvy, mountain, I started feeling sick. Great! We were at least 2 hours from the hotel, and I knew at least an hour of that was going to be stuck on this mountain. Needless to say, I know understand why dogs hang their heads out of the windows. There's just something refreshing about fresh wind in your face. Thankfully, we managed to make it back down the mountain and back to the hotel without anyone actually getting sick. But, it was a rough go for about an hour there!

Just had to share my experience.

It is Friday yet? I miss my family and want to be home :(.

All Alone, What to Do?

2008-04-27T13:48:00.008-05:00

I think every Mom must wish to herself "just one day to myself to do what I want to do". Well, today I have been given that day. Tim and Drew are on a "boys road trip" to see Tim's Mom. I am going to California tomorrow for the week, so they went to see the grandparents. So, I'm now all alone with nothing to do.

As previously stated, I've often thought about this moment. But, I was thinking more like only for a few hours so I could get my hair done or go shopping. Not for an entire day:(.

I don't even remember what it was like to not be married and with a baby. It seems those single, non-Mom days were ages ago. What did I used to do all day long? Shop? Watch TV? Maybe. Of course, I was still in school, so I assume I spent all free time most likely studying.

It is SO weird to sit in a quiet house. I should be sleeping or cleaning, or out doing something. But, instead, I'm writing my blog. I did go out for lunch - YEAH, but when I walked back into the house, I expected to walk in hearing Drew and Tim laughing or talking.

All in all, as much as it's nice to have an afternoon to one's self, I miss my family. I'm counting the days until Friday night, when I'm back home and can see my boys!!

And, yes, in case you are wondering, this is the first time that I've been away from Drew for more than about 2 nights. So, I'm being a sentimental Mom :). I swear, I must have called to "check-in" on the boys 10 times already. And, I left Tim with a long list of "how I would take care of Drew" :). He assures me they will all be fine, and I'm sure they will.

Someone should have warned me that becoming a Mom also turns you into an extremely overprotective person, like a mama bear protecting her cubs or something. I'm sure they will both have a great time, and we'll have lots of fun pictures to post next week! I just miss them already :(.

Little Late with These Pics

2008-04-25T08:12:00.010-05:00

So, these were from last weekend when the weather was really nice.

I'm making a slobbery mess here, but my eyes are just too gorgeous blue! Mom had to take just 1 more picture :).

Still love playing with hats. This pic is fuzzy, but I just thought it was too cute not to post!

Ummm.....dessert :). I've been trying for 7 months now to do this, and I finally succeeded!!

There are several videos on the right. One is my eating my toes. One is just absolutely hilarious - Tim and Drew playing!!! It's just precious. And, the other is of me and more talking - I can now say dada and bo. If only he would say mama! I think it's just too cute when Drew tries so hard to say something and nothing comes out, he just flaps his little chipmunk cheeks :).

What's New With Us

2008-04-25T07:28:00.010-05:00

So, it's been a little while since we posted, so here are some new pics and videos for you all to enjoy. Our little man isn't so "little" anymore. He's now 7 months old!!! It is just crazy that Drew is that old. He's so much fun right now, but at the same time, his "baby" phase is gone and it's a little sad. Our "baby" is now becoming a little boy.

Anyway, here are the pics.

My new favorite thing is playing with hats!! I love Daddy's hats, but of course, I don't want to wear my own :(.

I can't help it, my shirt is correct - I am a handsome man :).

There's a video on the right of me doing more talking. This one is my whiny talking voice, but man - I LOVE daddy's computer :).

Exciting Weekend!

2008-04-09T07:42:00.006-05:00

So, we had a pretty fun weekend a few days ago. I kept hearing that around 6 months, babies will become very active, therefore requiring more food. Well, Drew hit the 6 month mark and nothing. So, I kept thinking, "I guess not my kid". Well, last weekend, that ALL changed.

On Thursday of last week, he was the same little baby as always, nothing new or exciting was happening. On Friday evening, that ALL changed!! He started jumping, rolling over back to front like an old pro (see video), and talking up a storm. Tim and I were just sitting there all weekend, like WOW - who is this child? We'd never seen Drew so active and into everything. It was just hilarious! Here's his little mischievous face.

Before, when we set him in the exercauser, he's play with the toys, but he wouldn't jump or anything. Now, he's like a little animal in there! He's jumping, grabbing all of the toys at once, and just laughing/talking. It is hysterical to watch.

And, he started rolling over from his back to his belly, which is great! But, he's forgotten how to roll from his belly to his back. So, he now flips over and cries because he's "stuck". So, you flip him back over to his back. Not two seconds later, he's on his belly again. I think it's just his new favorite game :).

He's also saying "dadada" about everything! Of course, there's no mention of "mama" in there :(. Tim is dada, all of the toys are dada, everything is dada :). It's just precious. What's really hilarious (as you'll see in the video to the right), is that when Drew starts to get annoyed, he does this little whiny, screaming "dada" talking. The video also gives you a glimpse of his developing little personality.

It's just too cute to watch him change so much. He's trying so hard to scoot/crawl (also a video on this). When he becomes mobile, we are going to be in trouble! He already nearly jumps out of your arms to grab things, so wow - when he can crawl - watch out!!

Anyway, just wanted to share some of our excitement. Drew is SO much fun to be around right now. He just keeps us and himself laughing constantly.

Recent Pics

2008-04-07T07:36:00.009-05:00

Here are some recent pictures. Our little man is growing up!

I'm a happy baby.

I scratched my poor little face, but I'm still cute :).

The Stats are In

2008-03-28T18:05:00.003-05:00

So, Drew had his 6 month checkup today, and I wanted to pass along his stats. As the DR said "he's a big boy" :).

Length - 27" (75%)
Weight - 18.14lb (75%)

So, we've come a long way from 25% weight and 50% length as a 1 month old.

I still can not believe my little baby is 6 months old! We'll be planning a 1 year birthday party before we can blink! They grow up too fast :(. But, Drew is really at a fun age right now. I had been told 5-7 months is the best time, and they were not lying. He has been such a joy lately, and he just gets more and more interactive and fun everyday! Just truly amazing the difference a few weeks can make!

I'll try to post some pics soon.

Happy 6 Month Birthday!

2008-03-21T16:05:00.010-05:00

Here are some pics from today. Note to self - don't try to take a baby to get pictures when they don't feel well :). It was slightly stressful for all involved.

So, unfortunte that the "spring scene" was so girly. My poor baby posing with bunnies and flowers. Oh well, these did end up being some of the cutest.

I'm ready for a beach and golf vacation.

Uuummm.....the bear is soft....

Ok, I've had enough Mom...

Well, we had a pretty good time today. We'll be sure next time not to take Drew to get pics when he's sleepy, hungry, and just overall doesn't feel great. And, it's also best to go when it's not a holiday, since we'll have more normal backgrounds and less bunnies, flowers, and bears :).

Big Boy

2008-03-20T08:04:00.010-05:00

Well, tomorrow will be Drew's 6 month birthday! Just crazy that he's getting so big!! We have his 6 month pictures tomorrow, so that should be fun. I'll be sure to update the blog with pics as soon as we get them. I've had a lot of fun trying to find cute spring/summer outfits for him to wear during the photo session :). I'm just not sure how much he's going to like having outfit changes :(.

We've had a fun last few weeks. Drew is growing like crazy (over 18lbs), and now will eat almost all Stage 1 baby foods. He's still not much a fan of green beans, but peas seem to be alright. He's SO much more interactive now, just babbling up a storm. I swear he says "mama". Of course, he doesn't know that mama is me, but he does say "ma" and sometimes "mama", mostly when he is annoyed or mad. Which, this does lead me to believe that he knows exactly who "mama" is :). Tim keeps waiting to hear any signs of "dada" - none yet.

His new favorite things are sticking out his tongue and also making motor noises. He had SO much fun making little motor boat noises when my family was here visiting. Drew's had a pretty nasty little cold over the past few days, so that hasn't been much fun. But, hopefully he'll start to feel better soon. You just hate to see him so congested and not like himself :(.

We've had my family here for the past couple of weekends, so that's been nice. Drew really enjoyed getting to see some of his grandparents!

Eating is a messy business :)

2008-03-17T07:04:00.005-05:00

This is completely gross, but also really funny. If you know me, who would have ever thought I'd find it "cute" that my baby has food all over his face. And, yes, that is also food between his eyes :). He sticks his hand in his mouth and then it's just over. Food will be in his hair, his eyes, all over his face and clothes. Oh well. He loves carrots though, so I can't complain :).

Update

2008-03-06T08:40:00.007-05:00

Well, here are more pics of Drew. The past week or so have been quite fun. Drew has mostly been holding his own bottle when he eats - which makes it VERY nice for us in the mornings when we are trying to get ready. He still needs assistance putting his hands on the bottle, but then he is good to go. He's also gotten SO much better at eating solids. So far, we are up to rice, bananas, and carrots. Amazingly, he LOVES carrots! I can't seem to even get him fed fast enough. By the time I turn to get another spoonful, Drew's little mouth is wide open and trying to grab for the bowl Just amazing what difference a week or two can make! We plan to try squash this weekend, so we'll see how that goes :)

He still has those pretty blue eyes. I really, really hope that he keeps them. They say until about 9 months eye color can change, but I hope not! I wouldn't know what to do if Drew had brown eyes, since I'm so used to calling him "pretty blues". Please excuse the wet shirt in this picture. Drew slobbers all over everything! :)

It was very nice last weekend, so we tried to all get some fresh air and sunshine. I don't think Drew enjoyed it very much. He wasn't very fond of being hot and having a hat on his head. I could barely even get him to look up for a picture, but still I thought he was cute :). We are SO not ready for summer and having a baby. I hadn't even thought about all of the sunscreen and waterproof diapers, and everything else. Although, I can not wait to go shopping for Drew a little swimsuit!! I think that will be SO much fun and just precious!

We have a lot of family coming over the next few weeks, so that should be fun. Drew has changed so much since Christmas that I'm sure his grandparents will be amazed! We'll be sure to have many more pictures later.

Deep thought for the day....

2008-02-27T15:34:00.002-05:00

What would you do/be if you had no limits? As far as a job goes, I would want to be a brand manager for a consumer products company - like Procter and Gamble or Coke ... something like that. Or, maybe work for a market research firm that specialized in consumer products marketing. You may all disagree, but I think consumer marketing and consumer behavior is very interesting (i.e. why I got my MBA).

Anyway, just curious and wanted to make you all think for a second.

Date Night was a Bust :(

2008-02-25T10:27:00.006-05:00

So, last week was a big week - Tim turned 30!!!! So, yeah, we thought we would celebrate. Tim and I have not had a date since before Drew was born, so it's been over 5 months since we had a dinner/movie night out to ourselves. So, needless to say, WE WERE EXCITED!! We had toyed with the idea many times to get a sitter and have a night out, but at $10/hr, it was hard to justify a reason to spend money on a sitter and a date. So, we never went. But, the time was now! We carefully planned our evening, had money for the sitter, and were dressed and ready. She was supposed to arrive at 6:30pm. At 6:25pm, she called and was almost there. YEAH! Drew was finishing a bottle, off to bed, and we were ready. Here we are.

So, Drew is asleep, Tim and I are on the couch - waiting. It is now 7:00pm. Where is she? So, we decide to call her - no answer. Hhmmmm.....what to do. Have we been stood up by a babysitter?

7:30pm - phone rings, it's the babysitter's Mom. She wanted to know if her daughter ever arrived? Nope. So, now we are all worried and it's quite obvious that our date is now over. 8:30pm - still nothing. Tim and I finally just start watching a movie. I ended up calling the babysitter's Mom again to find out what happened. It seems that the babysitter was ARRESTED!!!! For not having a driver's license with her, of all things. WHO HAS EVER HEARD OF THAT BEFORE?

So, WOW - date night was definitely over. Now, I'm even more nervous than before about having to screen babysitters and find one you're comfortable with. Maybe by the time Drew is 1 year old, Tim and I can have a date :).

For good measure - some pics of Drew. He's getting to be a chunk!

What's New

2008-02-19T17:15:00.008-05:00

Well, since our last post, Drew has made some major accomplishments. He's getting much better at eating cereal. We still only try to feed him cereal on the weekends, since we have more time to be patient on the weekends. I think he's fine with eating it, I just don't think he likes the taste. So, pretty soon we can add some bananas to the cereal, and I'm sure he'll like that more! I'm a happy man sitting in my new highchair.

It's so cute when he opens his little mouth for more. I've also put a video on the right.

I love story time, and my Five Little Monkies book!!

Hanging out with Dad.

Drew rolled over this past Sunday!!! I was SO excited and couldn't believe what I had just seen. He's getting really good at it. There's a video on the right.

Also, look at the video of Drew laughing. It is just hysterical. Drew will laugh and laugh at Tim. The minute he sees Tim, just starts squirming and laughing. He LOVES his Daddy!.

I'm in California for a few days, so this is the first time that I've been away from Drew since he arrived 5 months ago. It's very bittersweet. I'm sad to be away from my family, while at the same time, it's nice to just be Brandie for a few days. Sometimes you get so lost in being a Mom that you forget that YOU even exists. I must admit, after not being on a plane for over 8 months, I was quite nervous about flying today. I used to fly regulary for work or personal, but not lately. Thankfully, it's like riding a bike and quickly you remember how it all works. It's SO much easier to fly when you aren't 7 months pregnant!! :)

Well, have fun watching the videos. Tim has a big birthday this week, so I'm sure there will be more pics of that! He's getting so old...

Drew's first experience with solids and other happenings

2008-02-09T18:22:00.000-05:00

So, we passed the 4 month mark, and the DR said it was now OK to start trying solids. As you may imagine, I was so excited! I thought YEAH - this will be fun. We can do something different than giving Drew that stinky formula day and night. I had researched highchairs, made a selection, and now we only needed to put it together.

We got everything set up, Tim was ready with the video camera, and it was time. YEAH! So, I mixed the cereal. WOW - this is really gross! And, doesn't look any more appealing than formula. Who would really want to eat this?

Side note - we never put together the highchair, so we ended up just using the Bumbo for the big occasion.

So, this is the "Before" picture. Notice the still clean and happy baby.

This picture pretty much sums up the experience. I've also attached a video on the right.

After this, I realized that trying to teach a baby how to eat solids was not any fun. There was definitely rain on my parade :(. We have tried many more times since this picture and still the same result. So, now I just don't know. He may be 6 months old before we get the hang of this.

Anyway, after we got Drew cleaned up from this experience, it was time to play. He's getting better and better with the Exercauser.

I love playing with Daddy and his hats.

I actually put the highchair together today, and it wasn't that bad. I swear, they should hand out a toolbox, a year supply of AAA and AA batteries, and a "Dummies Guide to Putting Things Together" DVD when you leave the hospital with your newborn. :)

Drew Pics

2008-02-04T12:41:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures taken since Christmas.
This was Drew's first day of "school" (daycare). He's such a big boy.

Watch out Mississippi State, I'll be ready in about 18 years for that baseball scholarship.
I'm such a happy little man.

Look what I learned to do, I'm now an independent sitter.

Need some help...

I love playing with my feet.

I love my new toy. I'm not really big enough to grab much at this point, but I managed to get this one thing and didn't let go.

Random Thoughts From the Week

2008-01-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

So, here are some random thoughts that I had this week.

1. Never take a baby for shots on a Monday!! This gives them no time to recuperate and means the daycare will call you five times for the next 2 days because your baby is crying.

2. Why do I always get behind the slow person in the salad bar line - the one who must put ALL 30 ingredients on their salad.

3. The expression "run around like a chicken with its head cut off", is really gross!! I say it all of the time because that is what our mornings are like, but yuck! I never really thought about what it meant :).

4. It's funny that once you have a baby, suddenly all of the songs from vacation Bible school come flooding back into your mind. Favorites this week are "Rise and Shine" (aka Arky, Arky song) and "If You're Happy and You Know it".

5. I used to watch Robin and Company on CNN every morning. I really enjoyed waking up and watching them. Tim would even say that I looked forward to it. But, it's been over 4 months since I've seen this - about how old Drew is :). Now, while we are "running around like chickens with their heads cut off" in the morning, we play with Drew, sing silly songs, and try not to get spit up on us in the process :).

6. I like to have little "projects" that give me something fun to think about/research. My latest obsession is a high chair. I've finally narrowed it down to 2, now I just have to decide. Wonder what will be my project next week?

7. I'm 31 years old, and I often still find myself asking "what do I want to be when I grow up".

8. There isn't sound more heartbreaking than hearing your baby's sad, hurt, helpless cry (reference to point #1).

9. We love Blockbuster monthly rentals. I laughed at first when we signed up, but now we have a movie night each weekend! This is our weekly "date", now that we have Drew.

10. To make an even list, I need to add another. I'm not sure of what else is left. Hmmmm..... Oh! How much longer to daylight savings time?? I'm not a fan of the winter months and it's getting dark so early.

I guess that's it for now. I'll add some pics of Drew soon.

Various Pics Before Christmas

2008-01-19T21:36:00.000-05:00

So, I got lazy before Christmas and never posted a lot of these pictures. So, I'll do them now. Drew was about 3 months old for most of these, and now he's almost 4 months old. Slacker Mommy, I know :).

Being almost tax time, this picture was appropriate.

This is also Drew's favorite way to sleep. If you can ever get him to turn his head and find his thumb, it's over! :)

I can do it all by myself.

My Daddy is SO funny.

I love my puppy.

Christmas in Mississippi 2007

2008-01-18T11:31:00.001-05:00

We then made the drive from Maryville, TN to Mississippi to see my side of the family. Drew got to "open" one of his presents early. It's a Bumbo!

It's Drew's First Christmas!

This was a lot of fun, since we had never met our little nephew Graham! It was a very special moment when my brother and I got to meet each other's first-born child for the first time.

Pic of me holding Graham.
Justin has Drew, and I have Graham. This is the first time we all met.

Various pics:

Drew and Graham match (here with Poppie and Nannie).

I'm a little man :).

Papa is so proud of his bunch.

We spent a lot of time on the floor checking each other out.

Drew with Papa and Granny.

Papa and Drew had many conversations over the week. This is what Papa called "doing our exercises" - trying to teach Drew to use his stomach muscles.

Christmas in Tennessee 2007

2008-01-18T08:26:00.000-05:00

We had a very good Christmas this year with our new little family. We left Raleigh the week before Christmas and drove to Maryville, TN to visit with Tim's family for several days. We got to celebrate a lot of fun things - Becky (Tim's sister) had a birthday and Drew turned 3 months old while we were there. It was so much fun to see Drew with Cooper (our nephew on Tim's side). We thought Drew looked so big to us, but WOW - not compared to Cooper (who's almost 2). Drew looked like he was 3 weeks old, not 3 months :).

Cooper got a rocking horse - which was the highlight of many days while there :). He took that horse everywhere. I can only imagine what trouble Cooper and Drew will get into in a few years :). Watch out Grams!

We took Drew and Cooper to get pictures made, and that was really fun. They both did so good!!

Poor Drew was worn out though afterwards.
This was the cutest thing ever. Drew was really upset (obvious from the pic), and Cooper was trying so hard to help out. He first brought Drew his "Blue" (his lovey), but he realized that wasn't going to help. Next, he offered Drew his paci. It was just precious.

Our little family.

Various pics.

Christmas Season

2007-12-12T10:18:00.000-05:00

Well, it is that time of year again. WOW - what a difference a year makes! This time last year, we weren't even bloggers :). Since then, ourselves and a lot of our family members blog to keep in touch. Last Christmas, Tim and I were still getting settled into our house and beginning to think it may be time to start a family. Well, here we are Christmas 2007, and we now have little Drew with us.

About this time each year, we do a "year in review". This lets us rethink what we experienced and learned from the previous year, and what we'd like to improve on or do differently in the upcoming year. (It also makes for something to pass the time while we drive across the country for the holidays) :) Anyway, we really enjoy remembering the highs and lows from the past year, especially in a year such as 2007!! Tim and I have had two amazing life-altering years here lately. In 2006, we got married, and in 2007, we had a baby. It just doesn't get any better than that! Here are our 3 stockings. Tim is Santa, I am the snowman, and Drew is the elf.

We really do have a lot to be thankful for this year. It is so easy to forget how lucky we are and how blessed we are for all that we have. This year, more than ever before, family has taken a new meaning. The holidays are always about family, but now since Tim and I have expanded our family, it has a very special meaning.

It's amazing how much having a baby will change your life. Things that you never really thought about before suddenly become very vivid. One thing that I've noticed is Christmas songs, especially the old classics of Away in a Manger and Silent Night. I couldn't tell you how many times I have sang these songs over the years, and I know they are about baby Jesus. But this year, they have new meaning.

After having a baby, suddenly I'm filled with emotion over what Mary must have felt having no place to have her child. You sing the lyrics "Away in a Manger, no crib for His bed", but I never really thought about before what this truly meant. I know things were much different all of those thousand of years ago, but the passion a mother has for her child stands throughout time. I could not fathom being in labor and not having a safe place to have my child. And, then having my child and having no place to put him except in a stable. It gives a new appreciation as to what Mary must have experienced on a physical/emotional level. Of course, this not even considering what she was experiencing on a spiritual level.

Anyway, I know I'm getting a little deep, but so goes being a new Mom - still full of emotion! That is another thing that I've realized. I was already a sentimental person, but WOW - it's on a completely different level now.

Well, Tim and I want to say Merry Christmas to everyone. We hope that you take time this year to remember the past year and soak it all up before 2008 is here and everything is new. Remember to be thankful for your familes and for everything that you have been given and to give back to others. Many, many people are not as fortunate as most of the people who will be reading this blog.

Drew Update

2007-12-11T15:56:00.000-05:00

Drew is almost 12 weeks old!! Crazy! At his last checkup (9 weeks) he weighed 10lb 14oz. So, hopefully by now he's well into the 11lb range. Poor little guy is still so skinny, but he eats all of the time! So, we don't know what to do to make him grow faster. Oh well. He's now 23" long, so he's getting a little bigger. Most of his 3month old clothes with feet in them don't fit anymore, so we are now onto 6 month old clothes (for sleepers). The 6 months are still quite large on him, but better to be too big than too small at this point.

If you read the email below this one, you know that Tim is home with Drew. Thankfully, Tim's company has paid paternal leave, so we took advantage of that! Tim and Drew are having a lot of fun at home hanging out. Drew just smiles so big when Tim plays with him; it's just precious. Drew will talk more to me, but we wants to play with Tim.

He's layed out in this picture :).

So, yes, he has quite the little personality. Thankfully, he's becoming more vocal and trying to express what he wants/needs more vocally instead of crying. He talks all of the time (or tries to talk) :). Sometimes you can tell he really wants to say something, but just can't get the sound to come out. He's almost giggling. He did giggle once, but that was it. He loves playing with his little doggie. I've posted a video to the right showing this. He now will hold onto doggie and take him around the house when we pick him up. It's so cute :). Of course, he would also love to eat doggie. He will put anything into his mouth these days.

I'm watching TV.

He's starting to sleep much more at night, so this is nice. He usually goes to bed around 7-8:00pm and most nights will make it to around 4-5:00am, so that's good. He's so cute when he's going to sleep at night. He sucks his little thumb and rubs his head with the other hand. If you ever can catch him doing this, then you've got him! It's time for bed. Of course, some nights he'll quickly wake up and act like he wants to play if he was caught drifting to sleep. Anything to stay awake for 5 more minutes.

This outfit came all the way from England. It's a soccer team in the UK. Our friend, Alex, gave Drew this to make sure that he started out life supporting the correct "football" team. :)

We have a lot of cute Christmas pictures that we took of him in search of the perfect photo for a Christmas card. But, we can't post these yet, since then you won't be surprised when you see your Christmas card. But, we'll post these soon. We didn't use this one picture, so I'll post it now.

What's New With Us

2007-12-08T16:36:00.000-05:00

I will preface this post by saying that while I do agree that all good posts should have a photo, I don't think this one will. Sorry :(. But, we will post more pictures very soon!!

So, all of the posts lately have been about Drew, so I thought I'd take a minute to update you with what Tim and I have been up to. I was able to stay home with Drew for almost 10 weeks, and now Tim is able to stay home with him until January. We were very lucky that Tim's company allows paid paternal leave for dads!!

Another exciting thing that has happened is that I am about 2 weeks away from receiving my MBA!!! I am SO excited and cannot believe that it's finally over. After 2.5 years, I must say that completing this degree has been a pretty big accomplishment for me. All along the way people kept saying that it would be too difficult to finish, trying to work full-time and go to school full-time, especially when in the middle of all of this, I got married, moved cities, and had a baby!! I even had teachers telling me that I would struggle to complete the program. Well, I did it!!! All of my requirements for graduation are complete, and now I am just waiting on the final grade. Tim and Drew even went down to school with me last weekend, so we made a family day of it - the last time I had to drive to Columbia, SC for school.

We stayed here over Thanksgiving and enjoyed just some quiet time and hanging out. It was actually very nice, since we have always travelled for the holidays. However, we are very much looking forward to Christmas and getting to see all of our families.

I have a new nephew!! My brother, Justin, and sister-in-law, Rebecca, just had a little boy. He is just precious! We cannot wait to meet him and introduce him to Drew!! Christmas will be very special this year. Both my brother and I have both become parents in just the last few months.

Tim has finished another year of "busy-season" with his company, which is always a good thing. For the most part, their job is nice and very flexible, but from Sept 15th-Dec 15th of every year, it is "busy season", which means lots of travel and late nights. But, Tim was able to skip out on some of this since his paternal leave started mid November.

Well, hope everyone is doing great! Just wanted to give an update.

More Pics

2007-11-16T22:09:00.000-05:00

He is 8 weeks old today, hard to believe it!! He's doing much better at holding up his head and can stay sitting up for a little while when propped against something. I still haven't gotten him to really smile at me. He looks like he's trying to smile, but then quits. He smiles all of the time in his sleep though, so it's really interesting that he can involuntarily smile so easily but then you have to beg him to socially smile at you. He's definitely gaining weight. He's a chunky monkey with his fat little cheeks. We have no idea how much he weighs, but we'll find out at his 2 month checkup.

This is his "Mama quit taking pictures and feed me" face :).

He's trying so hard to talk, making a lot of oohhh sounds, so that's really cute!! He absolutely HATES being on his tummy. I've had to start making him lay on his stomach a least a couple of times/day to develop his neck muscles, and he screams the entire time. He can pick his head up pretty far when he wants to, and you can tell he's trying to flip over because anything would be better than being on his stomach. But, he hasn't flipped over yet..

Here is his pouty face. He makes this face ALL of the time, and it's just adorable. It's so hard not to laugh at him when he does it. He just looks at you, sticks his little lip out so far, and then cries. Who knew that babies knew how to pout. I've never seen a baby have a pouty face before, but it's just too cute. And, very hard to get a picture of!
Starting this week, he now will sleep for a 5-6 hour stretch at night, then about another 2-3 hours, so this is nice. The only problem is that he's up all day and will not nap, and he goes to bed around 7-8:00pm. So, he might sleep for 5 hours, but that just means that he's up again usually around 1:00am. Then, around 4-4:30am (if I'm lucky), then around 6:00am. So, I think this is a LONG way from saying he "sleeps through the night", but it is progress. He was doing almost a 8:00pm, 11:00pm, 1 or 2:00am, and 4 or 5:00am, so at least this has dropped off by about 1 feeding at night.

He was trying so hard today to put his paci back into his mouth. He's never done this before, so I was quite shocked when I looked over there and saw that he had managed to grab the paci!! Then, I saw that he was actually trying to put it back into his mouth, and I had a "proud Mama" moment. Of course, he couldn't understand why the flat part just wouldn't fit back into his mouth :). It was just precious.

Anyway, just wanted to give an update.

Almost 6 weeks old!

2007-10-30T18:56:00.000-05:00

WOW! Time is passing so quickly. These past 6 weeks have been amazing. Drew has changed SO much since he was born. He is much more alert and interactive now. He makes cute little noises all day and definelty has a personality! His favorite thing to do is watch the ceiling fan. He just loves it, and it's so cute. He will almost break his neck to look around and find the fan, if he's not facing the right direction.

He had his 4 week checkup and that went fine. He's starting to finally gain some weight, so that was nice! He was such a chunk when he was born that it's taken a while to get back past his birth weight. He had to get a shot at the DR :(. WOW - that was NOT fun! He screamed like you had just stabbed him. I really do NOT look forward to the 8 week checkup when he gets 3 shots! I told Tim he has to go to that one with us. I don't think I can stand watching the little guy scream like that for 3 shots.

Drew is just like his parents. He does not like to be dirty. Drew can not stand to have a dirty diaper not even for a minute!! I swear sometimes I think he cries before he's even wet just to let you know to get ready. I know this because MANY times he'll start crying, so I start to investigate if he is wet or not. Of course he isn't, and then he decides to pee - ON ME! Yeah, funny you may think. But, I've gotten faster at changing the diapers and getting a shield ready!!

He's starting to smile and be more social. It's so sweet to see him grinning at you!! He almost rolled over the other day on his playmat. He doesn't quite have it figured out yet, but we are hoping soon.

I posted some links to videos over on the right of this blog. I couldn't figure out how to post them within the text, so I had to do it this way. I'm still frustrated about that!

Well, nothing else much is new. Tim and I are doing good. Still getting some sleep at night and waiting for Drew to start sleeping longer than 2-3 hours at a time! We are also waiting on my brother's baby Graham to be born!! He is due November 20th, but it could be anyday!!

Just wanted to give an update and post more pics. Hope everyone is doing well.

More pics

2007-10-17T14:37:00.000-05:00

My family.
His belly button finally fell off, so we were able to give him a real bath. He actually didn't seem to mind. He didn't cry until the very end when we poured water on him to rinse him off.

I'm a burrito :) Drew is not a fan of being swaddled!! I couldn't decide if this picture was cute or mean. He kept waking himself up by his arms flying around, so I thought I'd give it a try. I should have taken the picture 10 seconds after this when he was screaming his head off.

I'm 3 weeks old!

2007-10-12T15:40:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a VERY fast 3 weeks. We've learned a lot, lost a lot of sleep, gotten peed and pooped on more times that we can count, and had a ton of laughs! It is just incredible that we are parents. We look at him all the time and can't believe that we made such an amazing little person!!

It is very true how you quickly realize "what was our life like before?" - you just can't imagine life without the little one :). It is also hilarious how your conversations now revolve around - how many pee diapers did he have today?, is that poop the right color?, is he hungry, wet, cold, hot, bored, or what?, what was that noise?, and on and on....

He's been really good so far. He's fussy some afternoons, but he sleeps for about 2-3 hours at a time, which is really nice at night. He constantly has the hiccups, which seems to make him mad. Also, it appears that he's realized the difference between night and day, since when I put him in his bed at night, he doesn't fuss anymore - very nice!.

Here is a pic of his bed - of course, he's yet to spend a single minute in here. This bed is just way too big for him, and I can't stand him being that far down the hall from us. So, it will probably be a while before he's in this big bed.

This is adorable.

Tim's family came to visit little Drew. Drew's cousin Cooper was a little jealous of his Mom holding a different baby, but we got him calmed down for a quick picture :). I love my Grams, Uncle Ricky, and Aunt Becky.

Naked baby :). He is not really a fan of being changed, but he was doing good in this picture.

Me and Mom.
Drew's first "bath". It's just a sponge bath, but it went pretty well. I'm sure when he has a real bath, it will be a different story :).

I've learned how to hold my paci in my mouth. I just haven't quite learned yet how to put it back in when it does fall out.

Our Little Man

2007-09-28T18:45:00.000-05:00

Andrew Gavin Penrose made his arrival on Sept 21, 2007 at 1:05pm, weighing 8lb 5oz, 21.5" long.

My Daddy is already smitten with me.
My first diaper change by Daddy.

My grandparents are so excited to meet me!

My sweet little fingers.

Time to go see where I live.

Here's where I spend a lot of time - in my Pack N Play. I do this pose often - it's the "Touchdown" pose :).

My first outting, had to visit the DR for a checkup. I like my car seat; I sleep so good in it.
I did not like the DR office. They made me get naked and lay on this cold sheet. But, at least they said I was doing good.
I'm just too cute.

Honey, It's Time...

2007-09-27T18:18:00.000-05:00

So, here we are arriving at WakeMed hospital. Notice the smile on my face at this point. So, we went in to triage to be checked to see if I was a "keeper". The DR said I was already about 4.5 cm dilated, so I was staying. YEAH!! This was really it.
So, here I am calling my parents. It's time to start the long drive; little Drew is coming soon.

I am now admitted to the hospital, and this is our labor and delivery room. This will be our "home" for the next several hours and the place where Drew will enter the world. Still notice the smile on my face.
As you know, Tim likes to take pictures of everything, so here is his new badge, once we were admitted to L&D.

So, here is a contraction. YEAH - THEY HURT!!! Where is the anesthesiologist?? Contractions are painful at any point, but when you are almost 6cm dilated before you get an epidural, it is NOT fun! They teach you in L&D class to breathe, just breathe. Well, I'm trying my best, but it's a little difficult!
Here is a picture of the monitor. The higher the line and longer it stays high before dropping, the worse it is. This was probably one of the worst contractions that I had to feel.
AH, that one is over - for now - and we take time for a picture.
I have found a new best friend!!!! Epidurals are AMAZING!!! Absolutely NO pain after this point. It was smooth sailing. Tim and I both were able to sleep for several hours after I got this.

It was now morning on Sept 21st, and we are still waiting. I was about 10 cm at this point, but we were waiting on a DR to come by to confirm and begin the delivery process. Unfortunately, DRs make rounds in the morning and since I was feeling no pain, we got to sit around and wait for 2 more hours. It actually became quite boring. I was ready, Drew was ready, it was "GO Time", but the DR wasn't ready. So, we wait. Yeah, fun thing I learned about labor and epidurals, they tend to make some people swell. Really, would have never guessed :).

About 10:30am, we started the delivery process, but little Drew just couldn't get out. So, I ended up having to have a C-section. Hey, at least C-section babies come out with prettier shaped heads. So, after the C-section, I went to recovery for a few hours, and Drew went to have his first checkup. We were all doing fine. We were then moved into our postpartum room, where we would stay for the next several days.

Here's a picture of us in our room. I look pretty beat up, but I think Tim looks pretty cute in his scrubs from my surgery. Funny thing is right before I went into surgery, I saw Tim in his scrubs, and I kept talking about how cute he was. He said you're going into surgery, and you're talking about me being cute - too funny.

The Story Continues...

2007-09-26T21:02:00.000-05:00

So, after having contractions for hours and then having them stop, I realized that Drew would most likely be arriving soon, so I should get busy! I never had the "nesting instinct" that you hear about, but I did try to finish as much school work as I could. Maybe me doing school work was "nesting"?? - who knows.

So, all day long, nothing. Tim and I just kept about our day. Finally around 3:00pm, I started feeling the same cramping that I had felt the entire night. This time they were right on 15 minutes apart. After about 2 hours, I started wondering "was this it?". I also quickly realized what they meant by "back labor". It felt like the worse back pain ever. But, I had just been through 6 hours of this earlier, so I kept telling myself this was more practice contractions.

Well, now it was about 7:00pm, and we realized the contractions were getting to be 5-7 minutes apart at this point. Once again, been there already today, so hard to get too excited. But, just in case, Tim started getting ready.

By this point, the pain was picking up too. I knew that I was already 3cm from my doctor appointment earlier in the week, so I didn't want to wait at home too long, just in case this was it.

So, now it's about 9:00pm, and yes, we have determined these are definitely contractions and definitely getting stronger and difficult to walk at this point. We decide to call the doctor when the contraction have been 5-7 min apart for almost 2 hours now.

Of course, the DR says "wait until 4-5 min apart, lasting 60 seconds". Well, they weren't. So, now what. They were 5-7 min, anywhere from 40-50 second long. The DR said, do what you want, come in, don't come in, up to you. Well, THAT's helpful!

So, the pain was getting worse. We decided we're going. Worst case, they say go home. But, just in case this was the real thing, I wanted to get to the hospital SOON because I needed drugs!!!

So, I took a shower, we packed the car, and off we went. I must say driving down to the hospital, I didn't really expect to stay. I figured I was in labor, but not consistent enough for the hospital to keep us.

Thursday, Sept 20, 2007

2007-09-26T20:49:00.000-05:00

Well, we told little Drew for 10 months to the date today that Sept 20th, 20007 was his due date. He's a smart little boy and was trying his best to arrive on his due date. He almost made it :).

Wednesday night (the 19th), Tim and I watched a movie at home and then went to bed around 10:00pm. I woke up around 12:00am (on the 20th)feeling crampy. I didn't pay much attention to this crampy feeling until it kept persisting for a few hours. I finally realized around 2:00am or so that this cramping was happening routinely and started to wonder "is this labor?" Needless to say, I wasn't sleeping any. So, I kept watching the clock.

Finally around 4:00am, I woke Tim up. By this point, the contractions were around 10-15 min apart, but not lasting long at all. I told Tim something was going on and we should get up. So, around 5:00am, we were up and trying to think about what to do. We starting timing the contractions, down to 5-10 min at this point, but still not lasting more than 10-20 seconds. At this point, we were thinking, "Ok, is this it??".

Well, around 6:00am, it all stopped. Nothing. Just back to normal. So, we thought that was weird. But, oh well. I had read numerous stories of people who contract for hours or days and it's not progressive labor contractions. So, we went about our day. The one thing we did know is that Drew would arrive sooner than later, no need for an induction date.

10 days and Counting!!

2007-09-10T08:07:00.000-05:00

So, we have 10 days left until the due date. It's anyone's guess at this point when Drew will decide to make an appearance. We are hoping to at least make it until next week, since both Tim and I have TONS of work to complete before he arrives. And, we'd really like to have one more weekend together alone before the big day!!

We've spent the past 2 weekends getting the house ready, mostly cleaning out the "junk room". So, now the junk room is clean, Drew's room is ready, and all of the baby stuff has been assembled. The only thing we have left to do is install the car seats. So, we plan to do that this next weekend, unless Drew arrives sooner.

I'm still feeling fine. Or, as "fine" as one can feel and be this pregnant. Mostly just tired and uncomfortable more than anything else. Everyone keeps asking "when do you think you'll have him". Who knows? Even the DRs don't know. In this situation, only little Drew knows :). As much as he's still squirming around, you would think at some point he would get mad because he's out of room and decide it's time. But, we'll see.

I still haven't had this "nesting instinct" I keep hearing about. But, could it have skipped me and went to Tim instead? :) So, I don't know if nesting is a pre-req to delivery or not. If so, then we are no where near a delivery as of today. All I want to do is sleep, not clean.

I'm still at work - in some capacity anyway. I can be rather productive until about 2:00 or so, then I'm just beat and ready to go home. I'm still planning on being at work for a while. I know I'll be here all week this week, and next week just depends on what the DR says and how I'm feeling. But, I don't really have plans to leave early. For one, what would I do all day? I would be bored! For two, I have too much work to finish!!! So, we'll see.

Well, just wanted to give you all an update. We are still doing good. Tim is super busy and stressed, trying to wrap up important projects quickly before Drew is born. So, hopefully he'll get those finished. Otherwise, it's just like any other week for us. We'd better enjoy it. This could be the last days of quiet in the house :).

BabyMoon!!

2007-08-29T18:57:00.000-05:00

So, for those of you not aware of the term
"BabyMoon" - bascially, it's a honeymoon before the baby arrives. The last time (pre-baby) for the parents to get away and relax alone. Tim has been working down in Savannah, GA for the past couple of weeks, so we took advantage of this and met in Myrtle Beach, SC last weekend for a quick getaway.!

I had never been to Myrtle Beach before, so I was really excited about going. It worked out perfectly, since MB is 1/2 way between Savannah and Raleigh, making it easy for both of us. We got to stay at a really nice hotel and just had a GREAT time!

It was so hot that we didn't really go outside and do much. But, we did venture out to the beach for a quick walk. This was my first time to be on sand and get my feet in the water this year. We went to Vero Beach, FL earlier this year with Tim's family, but I just stayed at the pool. Growing up living 3 hours from a beach, I just think it's not a summer if you haven't at least once gotten your toes in the sand and feet wet from the ocean :).

So, we just relaxed and enjoyed this quiet time together. We plan to go back next year when Tim is on this account again!

We are now looking forward to the holiday weekend and getting last minute things ready for Drew's arrival. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll make it until September 20th. I'd be fine if Drew decides to arrive early - just as long as his Daddy is in town :)! I look like the Pillsbury doughboy in these pictures. I think the extreme heat was making me even more swollen than normal.

Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

35 weeks!

2007-08-29T18:49:00.000-05:00

So, here is me, 35 weeks pregnant. It's not until I see pictures of myself that I realize just how big I've gotten. I just don't realize it anymore about how big my belly is getting, but to look at the pictures - WOW! It's so funny to me when I look back at the pictures when I was 18 weeks. I thought I was SO big then. Too funny. I wasn't big at all - in fact, I didn't even look pregnant. Now, I look pregnant :).

We are doing good. Tim and I are just counting down the days. This was taken a couple of weeks ago, when we were in Columbia, SC for my class. Thankfully this is the last class I'll have to attend in Columbia for a few months.

Oh, I had to get another "wedding ring". There is no way that I can still wear my wedding rings, so we were getting afraid I would have to cut them off. So, now I just have a plain silver band. It's kinda sad :(. I don't like looking down at my hand and not seeing the rings that Tim gave me for our wedding. Hopefully only a few more weeks, and I can put my rings back on!

Tim got to play golf while I was in class that weekend, so he was excited about that. He doesn't get to play very often, so he always looks forward to the opportunity.

One Year Anniversary!

2007-08-20T19:36:00.000-05:00

So, with all of the craziness of getting ready for the baby, some of you might have forgotten that we have just been married a year!! We celebrated our 1 year anniversary on July 29th!! It's hard to believe that it's only been 1 year. So much has happened in our lives over this past year. We both moved to Raleigh, I started a new job, we bought our first house, and now we're having our first baby!! Needless to say, it was an action-packed first year of marriage.

We couldn't go anywhere too far away this year for our celebration, so we went a couple hours south of here to Pinehurst Resort. It was a nice, relaxing weekend. Unfortunately, we kept getting asked "are you here for golf"? So, this got a little annoying after a while. It is a golf resort, but what we didn't know is that it's ONLY a golf resort :). It's very nice, but people don't really go there to just hang out. And, that's the reason that we went - to just get away to somewhere nice for a weekend without having to travel very far. Oh well. It still was nice.

Tim beat me at checkers (I'm still bitter). For once in my life, I actually had him beat. He even will admit it. I knew it too, and I was SO excited. I've NEVER beat him in checkers. So, I got over-confident and stopped paying attention. Before I knew it, he had completely taken over my side of the board. Needless to say, I was not happy. Next time we are at a Cracker Barrel or near a checker board, it's ON! Anyway, here's a pic of where it all went down.

We didn't get to eat our traditional top layer wedding cake, since every last bit of cake was eaten at our wedding (they even ate our "saver top layer"). So, no cake for us. I told Tim the next time we are in Memphis, we'll have to get the cake lady to make us a small little cake, and we can do our "anniversary cake" then :).

Bad Times - Appendectomy

2007-07-23T19:17:00.000-05:00

So, I know this post is late (since this occurred back during the first of July), but I thought I'd post these pics anyway. For those of you who do not know, on Tim's trip back home from London this summer, he ended up having to stay over in New York for an appendectomy.

He started having stomach pains on the flight back from London to the JFK airport in New York. By the time he landed at JFK, the pain was quite severe. So, he called me, I got on the internet, and we realized the symptoms sounded like an appendicitis. So, thankfully, he did not get on the plane to Raleigh that evening. Instead, an ambulance came to JFK to take him to the Jamaica hospital in Jamaica, NY. I can attest to the fact that this was not the nicest of hospitals, but Tim did not have any say in where they took him. In fact, he didn't know where he was for a while, since no one would tell him which hospital he was in.

After a series of tests, a CAT scan, and emergency surgery, he was in recovery while I boarded a flight up there. My cab driver from the airport to the hospital was scared that I was in labor, so after assuring him that I was not due for a while longer, he calmed down. Tim was quite the sight when I made it to his room, and he was mostly out of it. After a night of sleeping on the chair in the hospital, we broke out of the shadiest hospital ever and headed home.

Tim is fully recovered now, and looking back, these pictures are pretty funny. The hospital gave him some funny little slippers, and Tim was suggested to get mobile the day after his surgery. So, here he is, doing laps around the hospital floor. He was willing to do whatever it took to get out of that place. It was quite the experience for sure.

Update on Me and Drew - 30.5 weeks

2007-07-23T18:48:00.000-05:00

So, here's some recent pictures. These are of me on the day we had our 4D ultrasound, and then some of Drew from the US. Of course, I'm even bigger now, since I'm almost 32 weeks. But, these were the last pictures we took.

Pic of his feet.

Pic of his face - the best we have. He kept his hands and feet in his face the entire time, the little stinker. So, we couldn't get a full face shot :(.

Here's a pic of him holding his feet above his head.

Hanging Out Overseas

2007-07-03T09:32:00.000-05:00

Hello, everyone. It has been a while since I last posted, so I decided to post a quick update. Over the past couple of months, I have been bouncing between Raleigh, Atlanta, Savannah, Greenville (SC), Greensboro (NC), San Jose (CA), San Francisco, Orlando, Vero Beach (FL), Columbia (SC), London, and The Netherlands. So, I've been traveling like a crazy person lately, and I am very much looking forward to slowing down later this year as I become a dad. I'm still in London for another couple of days, and I can't wait to get home to see my very much pregnant wife.

Brandie already posted details on our trip to Orlando and Vero Beach, and we had a great time. When I went out to San Jose for two weeks for work, several of us decided not to travel back to Raleigh for the weekend in between due to the long travel time. Plus, Brandie had class on Saturday, so I went up to San Francisco with some co-workers.

Here is a shot of us on the trolley which goes down the famous steep San Francisco street. Yes, it is very touristy and quite cheesy, but you have to do it. We also went to Alcatraz after hitting all of the main areas in the city. It was a quick trip, but we had a nice time. And, since work was paying, we stayed at the Westin there, which was extremely nice.

I left for London a little over a week ago, and this gives me a good opportunity to discuss Brandie's and my recent luck with travel. On the day before I left, Brandie was flying home from New Jersey, where she was for work. Her flight was cancelled, and after some negotiation, she managed to get on a flight to Charlotte. Then, she had to rent a car and drive the 3 hours home, arriving close to 2am without her bags. Unfortunately, I was planning to pack in one of those bags. The next day, I find another bag, pack, have a quick lunch with Brandie, and shoot off to the airport. Due to air traffic control, we are delayed leaving Raleigh. I missed my London connection in JFK and spend the next 23 hours trying to get on another flight. Yes, it took an entire day to get out, so I left the next day at the same time I was planned to leave the previous day. That was not a fun experience. Then, Brandie's connection home was cancelled, so she didn't make it in until almost 3am. And, her connection home was missed due to delays, so she didn't get home until 3am again. So, in four flights, we are shooting 0%. With our current luck, I'm really worried about my flight home.

So, after taking the red eye (overnight flight) to London, I slipped in a bit of sleep before meeting several new people. As Alex started in NY, he did not have a connection, so he was already there. We stayed with two of the friendliest people ever - James and Liz. I met them when I was last in London in 2005, since Alex was living with them then. Alex, Stuart, and I went to Wimbledon the next day, and we went again a little later in the week. When we didn't go, we were watching on TV. Cable TV in London has a great interactive feature where you can watch any court you want at Wimbledon, so you can watch any match you want. It is great!

We managed to get Center Court tickets for one of Nadal's matches. He always puts on a good show, and seeing him play in person was pretty cool.

We watched Henman play from Henman Hill, before we managed to get seats on Center Court for his great 5 set match against Carlos Moya.

To the right is the grounds crew uncovering Center Court. This year's Wimbledon had many rain delays.

We had great seats on Center for one of Maria Sharapova's matches. She made quick work of her opponent in two short sets.

We watched a lot of great tennis on the other courts as well. Here is Jonas Bjorkman playing, and we sat on the first row for this match. We also watched Hingis, Blake, Dementieva, Hantuchova, and many other less known players play matches, and you can basically sit on the court on the higher numbered courts. Center Court and Court 1 are the only courts where you need additional tickets above your ground passes. Overall, I had a great time at Wimbledon, and I've spend these past two days watching on TV. I'm looking forward to watching the finals from the comfort of my own chair on Sunday, assuming the rain delays do not push it out until Monday. I now want to hit the French Open and the Australian Open at some point, since I've already been to the US Open before. With little Drew on the way, it might be a while before I made it to those.

Below is a shot of me, Alex, and Stuart at Wimbledon. With all the rain, it was actually rather chilly.

James and Liz took us to a great bar where you overlook London and watch the sun set. It was a really neat place, and below is a shot of the city. The buildings in the distance are part of Canary Wharf. You had 360 degree views of the city, so I took a lot of good pictures.

A group of us headed over to The Netherlands for the weekend, since we were looking for a quick trip away. It was only an hour flight to get there, so we went to check it out. We went to the Van Gogh museum, checked out the first Heineken brewery as part of the Heineken beer tour, and took a boat ride of the city. It is a pretty cool place. Below is a picture of one of the many, many waterways which cut through the city. It was a nice, quick little trip.

My trip wraps up on Thursday, when I'll be leaving. We are hoping to make it to an England Cricket match tomorrow, which would be pretty cool to check out. Talk to you all soon.

Me, 26 weeks

2007-06-23T19:37:00.000-05:00

So, here's an updated picture of me and my big ole belly :). I swear, I'm huge. And, I was told to expect to double in size over the next 3 months. Seriously?? There's no room!!

Well, we have a first name - Andrew. We plan to call him Drew. We are still working on a middle name. We struggled enough with the first name, so we haven't been very motivated to find a middle name just yet. We will soon though.

Drew is growing just fine. We have a 4D ultrasound in a couple of weeks, so I'm very excited about that! The little joker moves around constantly. He just makes me laugh with some of the things he does. Sometimes, I look down at my belly, and the entire thing is shaking. It's like he's doing a dance in there or something. Mostly he just kicks, flips, and rolls, so this shaking thing is new and VERY funny.

I'm always wondering what he's thinking and doing. It's really bad when I'm trying to talk to someone at work, and he starts rolling around. I completely lose my train of thought and focus on my little baby.

I tried to listen to his heartbeat today, and he wanted no part of that. Everytime I put the microphone on my belly, he'd kick it. He doesn't seem to be a fan of people messing with him. He does the same thing at the DR office. Everytime the DR tried to hear his heart, he kicks at the device and tries to get away. Just makes me laugh.

I just can't believe that he'll be here in a few more months. We still have no idea how to take care of a baby, but I've bought about 10 books that I'm hoping will help :). I just wonder what he'll look like!!

Well, just wanted to give you an update. Everything's going great!

Disney 2007

2007-06-23T19:19:00.000-05:00

So, we're a little late talking about our vacation, but the past few weeks have been crazy. We went with Tim's family and our friends Jennifer and Jeremy and their baby to Disney World back over Memorial weekend.

We spent a few days at the parks, hitting all of our favorite highlights, and then spent the rest of the time at Disney just relaxing. This year we had Maddy (Jennifer and Jeremy's baby) and Cooper (Tim's nephew) with us on vacation, so between the 2 babies under the age of 2 and me, the very pregnant lady, we took it easy.

It's certainly funny the rides that you are interested in now that there are little ones visiting with you. We never really went to much in the Magic Kingdom before, but now, that's the best place for the kids! Of course, everyone knows this and the lines are IMPOSSIBLE! Oh well. And, it impossible to get the 2 babies to both look at you at the same time, and to actually smile. Oh well. Here's a picture of Cooper and Maddy.

So, after a few days, we went over to Vero Beach, FL to relax at Disney's property on the beach. This was also very nice. We all just took it easy and hung out by the pool and watched movies for a few days. Sometimes this is the best vacation :).

Well, just wanted to post the highlights. We all had a great time. And, the next time we all go, there will be a 3rd baby - baby Penrose! Here's a pic of Tim's family.

Some recent pictures

2007-04-26T20:30:00.000-05:00

So, here are some recent pictures of me and of Baby Penrose. This is me at 18 weeks. I told you all I was getting bigger. Just the difference between weeks 15 and week 18 is remarkable!

Here is a picture of the baby at 18 weeks. This is one of the better pictures - you can actually see his little spine, hand, and foot.

This picture is hard to see, but he's giving us a "thumbs up". This picture was also taken about the time the DR said it was a boy :).

Exciting News!

2007-04-17T20:20:00.000-05:00

So, I just found out that my brother and his wife are also having a baby - due Nov 19th!! YEAH!!! I'm so excited. It will be fun, he and I having babies that are two months apart in age. I just hate that we all live so far apart, so our kids will only see each other at holidays. But, oh well. This will be fun!

So, the race is on. Who will have a boy and who will have a girl....or will we both have the same thing? At least we'll know in another day or so. He still has to wait a few more weeks.

But, yeah!! I don't know how our poor parents are going to make it, having 2 grandchildren born 2 months apart. I guess it will be a big Christmas this year!! :) Needless to say, for our families, this fall is turning out to be quite interesting and amazing. Who could ask for anything more than having 2 new healthy babies born into the family. On second thought, make that 3 - since my cousin Katie is expecting a girl to be born 2 weeks before Baby Penrose.

Only time will tell.....how many more babies does the Goldman clan expect to have born this year. It's all a question on our minds, since I have MANY cousins on this side of the family. It's anyone's guess who will be pregnant next. First Katie, then me, then Rebecca, who's next.....

Be back soon once we have our DR appointment this week.

Congrats again Justin and Rebecca!!

Baby Penrose 15.5 weeks

2007-04-15T15:26:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, so we've gotten pretty lazy about updating this blog. Here's a picture of me, about 2 weeks ago, when I was almost 16 weeks pregnant. As you can imagine, I'm even bigger now :). Oh well.

We go this week to determine what we are having. So, if the baby cooperates, on Thursday, we'll know if we're having a boy or girl!! So, we're pretty excited about that and plan to start picking out names soon after.

Everything is still going well. I'm getting my energy back and can now actually stay up past 8:00pm, so Tim is happy about that. We went last weekend to look at baby furniture. Now, that was interesting. We had no idea what we needed or how much this stuff would cost!! WOW! But, thankfully most of the furniture is "expandable" to last the child for years to come. So, the investment is not a waste.

Just wanted to say hello and send the pic. We'll let you know as soon as we do if we're expecting a little Tim or a little Brandie. Until then....

What Trees Are These?

2007-03-25T18:04:00.000-05:00

So, these trees are all over our subdivision, and I have no idea what they are. But, they are quite pretty, so I'm curious if anyone knows what they are?? For all I know, they are the same tree, but I don't think so.

This first one is slightly pinkish white in color, and the tree is usually shorter than this one in the picture. Anyway, here it is.

This second one is not a good picture. Usually this tree is completely white, but this one is only partially white for now. Anyway, ideas anyone??

Interesting....

2007-03-10T13:59:00.000-05:00

This is a pic of little baby Penrose at 8 weeks. Surprise!! We are very excited and are due September 20th. We've been to 2 doctor appointments and have received good reports at both!! We even got to hear the heartbeat this past week at 12 weeks - around 150 beats per minute. I told Tim I think it's a girl because of the heartbeat. But, we'll see. We've got a running bet right now about what the child will be, but either way, we will be as happy as can be.

We've had all of our families visit over the past few weeks, so we've finally been able to tell most people. So, now, we are able to make it public on the blog.

So, we apologize that we haven't written anything in a while. About the only thing we've been talking/thinking about is the baby recently, so we could not think of anything to post except about baby stuff. And, since we could not tell everyone yet until telling our families, we just decided to hold off on any new postings.

So far so good - I haven't been sick or anything. Mainly, I have just been having food aversions more than food cravings. I've been on a anti-Mexican and anti-Italian kick basically for about 2 months now. Just the smell makes me nauseous. But, I've been very thankful that it hasn't been worse. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks when I enter into the 2nd trimester. Supposedly, there is this HUGE burst of energy that comes with the 2nd trimester. THAT, I am ready for. You can ask Tim; I've been a zombie these past few weeks. I basically go to bed around 8:00pm and barely wake up by 6:00am for work :).

We just can't wait to find out the sex of the baby. We should find out in May, so we must wait a little while longer. So many of our friends are having babies right now that it's been exciting just to find out what they are having.

I am already showing at 3 months, so I can only imagine how huge I'm going to get. I'm beginning to get a little worried. But, I've just been SO hungry this 1st trimester. And, unfortunetly, the things that I felt like eating weren't the most healthy - cereal, potatoes, any carbs or starches, etc. And, LOTS of fruit - at least that part has been good. Oh well :).

We hope to catch up with everyone soon, and until then, my belly will be growing at a rapid pace. Fun times!

Hanging in Columbia, SC

2007-01-20T11:28:00.000-05:00

Hello, hello, from sunny South Carolina,

It has been a bit over a week since our last post, and a few fun events have happened. We're currently in Columbia, hanging out with some friends. Brandie has class today for her MBA program, so I joined her for the trip.

Last Friday, I had poker night with a few co-workers, and to date, I have walked away a winner from every Raleigh game. I think I might not get invited to the next one. This game didn't last until the early morning hours like the last one, so I managed to stay out of trouble this time. :) The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning, watching shows on the DVR, eating at our new favorite restaurant (Milton's Pizza and Pasta), and doing a bit of work. The weekends just seem to fly by. On Sunday, I got an oil change in the afternoon, and when we went to grab some dinner, Brandie noticed that my car was leaking oil. I will admit that I have one old car, but it has never leaked oil. So, I was extremely annoyed about that. We start to pull off, and I noticed that the car was driving weird. So, I jumped out and realized that my right, front tire was completely flat, which leads me to the tire changing story.

I pulled the car back into the garage and proceed to jack it up. After having had two flats and a stolen tire recently (will save that story for another day), I've gotten surprisingly good at putting on the spare. As quickly as I got the car lifted and the lug nuts ripped off, you would think that I had pit crew experience. It was at that point that I hit a snag in the tire replacement project - the tire was stuck. Now, I'm not talking that it was slightly stuck on there. I almost toppled the jack three or four times in trying to rip that sucker off with sheer force. Being covered in black dust and dirt and a bit perplexed about my situation, I contemplated my next move. I came to it - what else but Google.

I washed up and began the research. After many sites, the consensus remained that there were two solid options - kick it or beat it. Knowing that putting a foot to it would almost guaranteed that my small jack would go flying, I went with the "beat the crap out of it" approach. It was a very scientific process and consisted of my lying on the garage floor and proceeding to beat the everliving crap out of the back of my tire, spinning it frequently to focus the force evenly. And, sure enough, it worked like a charm. Walmart confidently told me the next morning that they could not find a leak in the tire. Now, I'm no mechanic, but I'm confused as to how an air-filled tire can lose air to the point of going completely flat without a leak. But, they slapped it on and sent me on my way. I knew it would be flat by the time I left the parking lot, but it remains fully inflated almost a week later. The flat tire incident remains a mystery to this day. Jiffy Lube resolved my oil leak quickly when they tightened the oil filter, so my car is back to new...well, as new as a 1992 Honda Accord with 179,500 miles can be.

Now, as for the spider incident that Brandie mentioned in the last post, she did not truly express the sheer size and extreme intelligence of this spider. She did not adequately set the scene. It was probably close to 10 or 11pm one night when I went to put some Christmas boxes in the attic. I'm walking up the stairwell into the attic, when I look up to see that the light looks really weird. I stared for a second and realized that there was a large spider web between me and that light. It went from the one of the top stairs to very near the ceiling, so I immediately look for the spider who calls this truly impressive web home. Yep, there he was...sitting there in all his glory near the bottom middle of the web. I swear to you that this spider was looking at me, and he was one of the largest spiders that I have even seen. I quickly decided that I was not adequately equipped to tackle such a creature; I needed some serious gear, which would need to wait until the morning. Brandie mentioned hitting him with a shoe. Ok, since she never even saw the spider, she does not realize that this thing would have grabbed the shoe from me and hit me with it.

I headed up in the morning to check on my friend, and I swear to you that he had torn down his web. I had to look very closely to see that a small section remained near the bottom step, and he had created a new section in a slightly hidden area. Plus, he had vanished without a trace. This thing was developing into quite a formidable foe. I gave it about two hours or so and headed back upstairs. This time, I'm prepared with a flashlight to get a closer look at things. After much discovery, I found him hiding in a split between the stairs and the wall. If I can find him hiding in a split, it only further adds to the evidence of his sheer size. So, we headed off to Ace Hardware (great store!), where I purchased the largest bottle of spider killing spray that I could find. We returned to the house, where I headed upstairs once again. However, this time I was fully armed with the spray and a flashlight. I popped open the attic door and peered upstairs. There he was. He was sitting near his hiding spot, and I almost got the impression that he was awaiting my arrival. I crept toward him and nailed him with a blast of the spray. He instantly darted into his hiding spot, where I chased him with more and more spray. However, my adversary was never seen from again. In some ways, I feel he now resides in a nice grave under the stairs. In others, I feel he lives to fight another day, and when that day comes, I'll be prepared. It will probably be the same day that my tire mysteriously goes flat again.

Well, to wrap this up, I will let Brandie tell you about our first snow in Raleigh.

Happy weekend to all,
Tim

P.S. Yes, I was bored when I started this post this morning. Brandie was in class, and my buddy was asleep.

Still no Chef and other Happenings

2007-01-10T08:58:00.000-05:00

Since our last post, we've been very busy. We unpacked many more boxes this past weekend and what did we find but more wedding presents. So, that means many more trips back to the store for returns and repurchases. We still have the mysterious random presents that none of the stores will claim as their product. Oh well. Here's a pic of Tim opening one of the many new cookware boxes.

Tim has gotten on a kick about everything needing to match. This means I must get rid of all silverware, old dishes, pots/pans, and glasses. Now that we have all of the new stuff, it must all match, or else! So, when you find 2 random knife sets as wedding presents that now match nothing, it causes a problem :). The worst part is that these aren't complete knife sets, they are just 4 steak knives in one and the other box was a single. Here's a pic of some of our new fun stuff!!

So, we will be hauling about 3-4 boxes this weekend to GoodWill full of my old stuff. Kinda sad to see it go, I must admit, but the new stuff is so much fun!!! Speaking of new stuff, we found this in our hostess silverware set - anyone know what it is?
Our best guess is a gravy spoon??

What else?? Oh, Tim's scared of spiders :). He was taking boxes up to the attic from Christmas and said he saw the biggest spider imaginable. It was then a battle between him and the spider, which the spider was winning because Tim wasn't going back up there. Of course, we had to wait until Tim's new favorite store (Ace Hardware) was open so he could buy some spray. I wish he had just wacked it with a shoe, but no, we had to get spray. Oh well, hopefully now the thing is dead. We have no proof that he died, but we know we haven't seen him in a few days, so we assume so.

Okay, so I've tried to cook a few meals since Tim's last post stating that I couldn't cook and fed him old food. I must say, I'm about to give up. I'm about 1-4 at this point on meals. The only thing that I've made that Tim liked was grilled chicken, and this because he covered it in BBQ sauce. Last night was REALLY bad!! I tried to make beef fajitas. WOW - not good. I went overboard on the seasoning and marinating and they were just awful. So, maybe I should just stick to grilled chicken - you really can't mess that up. I guess there is always take out or the old standby of Lean Cuisine, which right now both look like good options.

I guess that's about it. Just unpacking, buying new stuff, killing varmits, and trying to cook. That sums up the past few days. Talk to you later!

My Wife, The Chef

2007-01-05T20:11:00.000-05:00

Hello again. I have a fun story from tonight that I must share. On arriving home from an overnight trip, I spend some time breaking down more boxes and throwing them away. Note: The pile of boxes is still quite large. Soon, my loving wife arrives home from the grocery store and proclaims that she is going to cook us a nice dinner. Sweet! Being a couple of days into a diet, I'm excited for some good food.

If you look closely at the picture, you will see Chef G's George Forman grill, which is where all of the magic happens.

I help her unload the car and proceed upstairs to change clothes. I come back downstairs to find tacos in progress. Having had tacos for lunch, my excitement wanes for a minute; however, as my wife is cooking, I'm still as happy as a kid on Christmas morning. I watch over the meat while Brandie takes care of the rest. We get everything ready and start to eat. I find it quite odd that my tortilla keeps ripping apart. No matter what I do, that sucker isn't staying together. Also, in tasting the tortilla, it is really stale. After being a bit confused, since I saw Brandie come in with a fresh thing of tortillas, I asked to find out that I'm eating the old ones, from "a month or so ago." Since Chef G's taco speciality is rarely produced, I already looking forward to the next round of stale tortillas. :)

Speaking of quick dinners, you will find a current shot of our freezer to the right. We have lean cuisine pizza, chicken, lean cuisine chicken panini, and again, lean cuisine pizza. This is not an exaggeration at all. After having consumed two month old tortillas and three week old milk recently, I'm slowly learning that my options in the freezer are not that bad at all.

If we ever have kids, we both agree that they are going to starve. :)

Fat Weekend and Back to Work

2007-01-02T08:46:00.000-05:00

Well, we're back at work. It was very difficult to get up at 5:30am this morning. UGH!! I got so used to sleeping late that this is quite painful and no fun! But, I guess all good things must come to an end. Speaking of.....

Today also marks the end of "Fat Weekend". Fat Weekend is something that Tim and I like to call the weekend prior to a diet. During this time period, there are no rules. You eat whatever you want and as much as you want. Which for me, consisted of LOTS of chocolate, gummie worms, and pasta! Needless to say, fat weekend didn't help the already increased weight from the holidays.

So, today is "transition day". Basically, the diet starts tomorrow, so today is the ease into the diet day. Snacks are allowed, in limited quantities, since the first day back to work is just too difficult to go cold-turkey into a diet. All of this fat weekend will officially end and the diet will begin tomorrow. We plan to eat at the Cheesecake Factory tonight - one last indulgence before the diet.

So, I plan to do the South Beach diet. It has worked for me in the past, and I hope that it works again. Tim - I think he's going to do his own thing. Basically, try to not eat McAlisters everyday :).

Hope you all have a great day, getting back into the routine. And for all of those beginning a diet - GOOD LUCK!!

Day of Returns

2007-01-01T21:33:00.000-05:00

Well, we've finally made it to the bottom of some of our moving boxes - YEAH!! Inside, I found many wedding presents that I had forgotten about - so that was fun!! We also made the executive decision to return some of our dishes in need of other necessities such as towels, kitchen gadgets, bakeware, and cookware. Needless to say, it was the day of Analon. Tim got overexcited about finding all matching kitchen gadgets, cookware, etc., so we ended up buying every last Analon kitchen utensil you can think of. Now, we just have to finish purchasing our cookware, and the kitchen should be complete.

Tim is just happy to have some of the boxes unpacked and all of the bags of goodies to be returned off the kitchen and living room floors. I got on a kick for a few weeks of searching for the perfect bath rug. I must have bought 10 or more rugs from about 3 different stores before I made a decision. Now, you might know that the one place I decided to buy rugs from only has the 1 size in store. But, thankfully, they have other sizes online, so I'm set!

On my list next is the rug for the downstairs bathroom - now that will be a challenge due to matching the shower curtain with the rug. I'll let you know how that turns out. But, hopefully it won't be as difficult as for our bathroom. At least this time I know which stores have the best rugs :).

I'm still on the lookout for our Cusinart toaster. I think it may have gotten lost in the move to Raleigh, who knows. I know we received it for a wedding present, but I don't know where it is. I'll be so excited though when we finally unpack/find that box!!

Well, that's all for now. Just a day full of shopping and returning. We got some good things though, so we're happy about that. Still lots more to go.....but it is a process.

Our blog begins...

2006-12-28T09:53:00.000-05:00

Hello all. Since we are far away from many friends and family, we have decided to create a blog to keep everyone updated on our lives. We hope you enjoy. We have recently spent the holidays driving across several states to catch up with our two families, and as always, it was great to see everyone.

We started by heading the 380 miles to my mom's in Maryville, TN, and as you can see by the picture, "Grams" is quite the happy camper with her grandbaby Cooper. Becky (my sister) and Nathan (brother-in-law) came over to my mom's as well while we were there, since they also live in Maryville. We made our way to pick up a nice new 42" HD-TV for my mom, and I can now safely tell Brandie what I want for Christmas 2007 - a 52" Sony Bravia LCD TV. Sweetie, you better start saving. :)

After a few days with my family, we drove the 420 miles to De Kalb, MS / Philadelphia,MS, to catch up with Brandie's family. Here is a picture of Brandie, me, Justin (Brandie's brother), and Rebecca (Justin's wife). We had a really nice Christmas at her mom's and dad's places, and we managed to fit in several movies, more food than one can imagine, some beaver hunting, some 4-wheeler riding, a bit of hiking in the woods, a bonfire, and many afternoon naps. It was a nice, relaxing time, and I am slowly getting everyone's names correct. Some may laugh, but there must be 100 people in Brandie's family.

After a many good days in MS, we drove the 720 miles back home to round out our 1500+ mile trip, and we had a great time. Of course, I did catch some much deserving flack about my 1992 Honda Accord, when we realized the leaky truck was too wet to store presents. But, I'm very glad to report that we did the whole trip on just over 3 tanks of gas in that old car, and boy, do I love when we roll past 450 miles on one tank. It just doesn't get much more exciting than that. :) We spent a quiet New Years Eve at our house, and today will be filled with tearing down the Christmas decorations and tackling the boxes once again. Our unpacking has turned into a multi-month job, but we are getting close. We must finish before everyone starts coming to visit very soon. Brandie was beating me up yesterday about starting our taxes, but I can safely safe that we were ready to submit on December 31st if we would have had all of the forms. Of course, that will take until early February, but it is nice to have that ready and waiting. I absolutely love tax time!

I hope everyone had a nice holidays, and we'll catch up with you soon. I'll leave you with a fun picture of Justin and me as we are about to head out for some night beaver hunting. For those who know me, that should be a funny sight. Happy New Years!