Why I Love My Husband!

Yes, this is an old picture...this is from our wedding rehearsal.

1. Where we met - We first met in elementary school at St. John's. I was in 3rd grade and he was in 4th, but our classes were in the same room. I remember one day my friend and I kept bugging him about who he liked. He gave me a note and told me to go in the bathroom to read it. When I opened it, it said "I licke you", how sweet is that?! After elementary school we didn't see each other again until high school. My freshman year we had Career and Family planning together and became best friends.

2. Our first date - We went to go see Bicentennial Man and got hot chocolate after. I was so nervous, this was my first date! I barely talked to him at all. And it kills him because I'm the only girl he ever went on a date with that didn't kiss him goodnight :) This was our first date, but didn't actually start dating till much later.

3. How long did we date before we were married? - 5 1/2 years

4. How long have been hitched? - 2 1/2 years

5. Favorite feature - His eyes and his nice soccer player legs :)

6. Favorite quality - How laid back he is. I get so worried about every little thing, and Nick just takes everything in stride. He really brings me back down when I start to stress out.

7. His nickname for me - I never thought about it, but I don't guess we ever did nicknames!

8. His favorite color - He really doesn't have a favorite, but I guess blue would be closest to his favorite.

9. His favorite sport - Hands down, soccer. He's played since he was 3. He's been coaching since he was in college, and currently is the head coach for the middle school girl's team at Scott County middle and he will be coaching the high school girl's club team this spring. However, he will play and watch just about anything. I hope our kids are blessed with his athletic abilities!

10. Who said I love you first - He did. We said it pretty early on, and I know I always roll my eyes when I hear teenagers talk about being in love, but I knew since my freshman year in high school that we would get married one day. Even when I wasn't ready to date him, I knew he would be my husband one day.

11. Our first kiss, when and where - In my house my junior year. We weren't even dating yet, he had taken me home from school and we shared our first smooch...we did start dating soon after :)

12. Favorite couple thing to do - We like to watch cooking shows together.

13. His hidden talent - I don't think he really has any hidden talents. He's a great cook, makes a mean cheesecake, and (when there's no TV on) is a great listener. Several of our friends have come to him for advice because he is good at looking at the situation and not taking sides, hence why he wants to be a counselor!

14. His favorite music - He likes a hodge podge of music...it seems like just about anything I don't like, he does like.

15. What I admire most about him - What a good father he is. I love to watch him with Bailey. He's just a big kid himself, so they have a really good time together!

16. His favorite pastime - Playing video games and playing basketball on Saturday mornings.

17. Will he read this - Probably not, but he's sitting in the room with me right now, so he already knows most of what I've put!

Brittany, Shana, Maria and Laura, tell me why you love your men!

Thankful Thursday

1. Snow days! Not being in the teaching profession, I am not blessed with many of these. It was so nice this week to have a little extra time at home with Nick and Bailey!

2. Not losing power. We had a few friends who lost power due to the ice, luckily we did not. The only problem we've had is our cable going in and out, which is nothing compared to sitting in a dark, cold house! However, our furnace did quit working at the office, so they ended up sending me home early again today. The hour I spent there was FREEZING! It was 58 degrees!

3. My husband. Yeah, I'm always thankful for him, but today he has been great. We have a steep driveway and it's a pain in the winter! He spent quite a bit of time outside today trying to clear it off. Thanks honey!!

"Picking" up bad habits

Yes, I'm afraid Bailey has learned to pick her nose. I'm not exactly sure when this happened, but one day I looked over at her, and there she sat with her finger up her nose! No, this isn't a pleasant topic, but one every parent deals with at one time or another (or at least that's what I'm telling myself!). This grosses me out big time, but I try not to make a big deal out of it, because I know the worse I make it seem, the more intrigued she will become with the whole thing! So, I try to just tell her "No touch", when I see her digging for gold. Most of the time it works. However, my daughter has somewhat of a brazen streak in her. One day at lunch I had already gotten on to her for this, and the next thing I know she is staring me down while slowing putting her finger up her nostril, almost as if she was thinking "What are you going to do now, mom?" I had to turn my head to laugh before I told her "No" again. And this isn't the only time she has tried to test me. Lately it seems like she is seeing exactly what she can get away with. She'll do something that she KNOWS is not allowed, and just watch me the entire time!!! I can only imagine what the teenage years are going to be like!!

Thankful Thursday

1. My new chair! I have been hoarding my birthday and Christmas money until I could figure out something I really wanted. A couple of weeks ago I finally decided to buy a new chair for our living room. I love it! Now I have just a few more things I want to do to finish the room.

2. Baby Monitors. Of course I'm thankful for them for the obvious reasons, but one of my new favorite things is being able to listen to Bailey just lay in bed and talk to herself. It is so sweet! Lately when we lay her down at night she's been talking to herself...or Mr. Froggy, for at least 20 or 30 minutes before she finally falls asleep. And this morning she woke up at 6:00, which is way too early for her, so I decided to wait and see if she would fall back asleep. She jibber-jabbered and laughed for almost an hour before she fell back asleep. I just love listening to her!

3. Our newly converted play room. We have officially moved ALL of Bailey's toys to our front bedroom. It is so nice to have the living room as a grown-up room again. It seems crazy, but the room feels more peaceful now that there's not toys in front of the fireplace anymore. We will bring toys in there while she is awake if she gets tired of being in the play room, but they all go right back in there when she goes to bed.

Babysitter

Last night was a first for me and Nick. We were going to my friend Brittany's house for her birthday party and we actually hired a babysitter for the evening! Before, we've always had family or friends watch her when we've gone out. Well, our friends were going to be at the party, and I don't like to ask my parents to watch her on the weekends since my mom keeps her during the week while we're working. So we decided to ask one of Nick's students to babysit for us. She's a really sweet girl and she babysits on a regular visit. I was nervous about it though! And I wasn't the only one...my mom had some reservations about it...when I had told Brooke she said "I'm just not so sure about this..." and when Justin asked who was keeping her and we told him he said, "I don't like this. My mom's home and we can take her over there." Now, to clarify, these people are friends of ours! It's so great that Bailey has so many people that love and care for her! One of the people at the party made the comment that it seemed like Bailey had 5 sets of parents :) Well, everything went great! I had Nick call at 8:15 to make sure she had gone to bed ok. That was really my main concern, that she wouldn't want to go to sleep with someone new laying her down for bed. When we got home I asked Georgia how it went and she said she actually had to keep Bailey awake until 8! Apparently at about 6:30 she wanted to sit with Georgia on the couch, then they laid down together on the couch and Bailey fell asleep on her! Seriously, my daughter NEVER does this anymore! So, being the good babysitter she is, Georgia knew to keep her awake until her bedtime, or otherwise it would have been a very early morning for mommy and daddy :) We will definitely call on her services again...however, family is free :)

Story Time!

This morning I got to take Bailey to story time at the library! Actually, me and Nick took her since there was no school today. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, but as a working mom, there's usually no opportunity to do things like this. Well, at work we've started having weekly meetings on Fridays and when they start is 30 minutes before I usually come to work, so Katy agreed to let me kill those 30 minutes during story time! This couldn't have worked out any better! There were only 2 other little girls there this morning. Bailey loved the books (of course!) and the dancing! She is usually so shy around new people, but she really surprised us both by going over and sitting on another mommy's lap during one of the books! Then during one of the songs she went to Mrs. Mary Lou (the leader) and she picked Bailey up and they danced. I couldn't believe that was my daughter! I'm very much looking forward to this being a normal weekly thing!! Here are some pics.

Videos!!

So, I've been behind on getting videos uploaded on here...just a little laziness on my part! But here are two videos I've been meaning to get on here for a while. This first one is the first time Bailey actually fed herself with her spoon. For a while now we could put food on her spoon and sit it in her bowl and she would pick it up and feed herself that way...but this was the first time she did it all by herself!

12-30-08

This next video is of Bailey playing with her mini basketball...her new favorite thing!

Goals for 2009

All right Terri, you want to know my 2009 goals...here goes! 1. Get more organized. I actually started this one a little before New Years, but it's definitely my biggest goal this year. I am such a piler. For some reason I have a problem throwing things away, so if I don't know what to do with something I'll pile it, until I get tired of seeing it, and THEN I throw it away! So I'm trying to streamline everything. I had already posted pics of my bedroom, and that was the first room I organized. Nick actually rearranged our front bedroom, that is now basically Bailey's play room :) but I have a few more things I want to do in there to get it how I want it. 2. Lose weight. I say this one every year, but hopefully I will actually stick to it this year. I do actually weigh less now than I did before I got pregnant, but everything seemed to shift, so my body is still completely different than it was before! My main goal is really to tone up. 3. Soak up every minute of Bailey I can! There are nights when I come home from work and am so tired and end up on the couch watching Bailey play, only to feel guilty about it later. I know she's only going to be little for so long, and I want to enjoy every second of it I can, tired or not! One thing I'm really excited about, is on Friday's I'm going to start taking her to Story Time at the library! I've worked it out with Katy that I'll come in early that day so I can leave to do this with her. I'm so glad to have a boss that understands what it means to be able to do things like this. I know there are a lot of working mom's that do not have that luxury. 4. Have more date nights. Me and Nick do not have enough of these...as I'm sure most parents would say! I want to really make time for us too! 5. Take off with my real estate career. I'm learning to give my business card to people everywhere and to try and meet someone new everyday. I think I've had a pretty good start and I've got a couple of clients I'm working with right now that will be buying this Spring, but I hope I can really start to make a name for myself this year!

Ultimate Recipe Showdown

I am sitting here on my couch counting down the minutes until the Ultimate Recipe Showdown comes on Food Network at 9:00 tonight. Why am I so excited? Because I know one of the contestants that's going to be on there!! I've talked a lot about Katy on here...my boss...her son is Michael and he is also a Realtor in our office. His girlfriend, Brigitte Nguyen is on the show tonight! She is such a cute, sweet person, I just love her. She graduated from Sullivan's culinary program last year. She was chosen to go over to feed the Olympians and is now competing on Food Network!! They have been very tight lipped about it, so I have no idea if she wins or not, but I am keeping my fingers crossed for her! If you click on the following link, you can find her name and watch her bio video. Good luck Brigitte!!!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/ultimate-recipe-showdown/index.html

Happy 15 month birthday!

Bailey imitating a monkey!

I can't believe Bailey is 15 months old today! I don't know where the time has gone!! Oddly enough, her 15 month check-up isn't until February 9th...which will make her 16 months then...oh-well, crazy doctor schedules! Here are some updates at 15 months: Favorite food: Still has to be biscuits and gravy. She is finally eating her vegetables good again! We just have to give her those about ten minutes before we put anything else on the table :) And she loves soup of any kind! Favorite drink: She loves her juice! She only gets it about once a day (and it's watered down of course), and she gets so excited. Favorite sign: Eat/Food. When she wakes up this is the first thing she does. I think she would eat all day if we let her! Favorite toy: This seems to change regularly, but lately it's been a little basketball. She can entertain herself for a long time bouncing the basketball in the kitchen. She picks it up, says "Ball", drops it and then chases it across the floor. And if you bounce it for her she gets excited and she'll just squeal! We call this, Baby Fetch :) Favorite cartoon: Sponge Bob...and I HATE Sponge Bob! Nick watched it even before Bailey was born and she started watching it with him. If she even sees a TV she asks for "Bob". She still loves music and dancing. It amazes me how much she picks up on without us even noticing. Now we can tell her "Go to your room", and she'll go right in there...very handy for diaper changes. And if you ask her if she wants to take a bath, she almost runs into the bathroom! This is definitely one of her favorite activities. She has recently started shaking her head no...so now if she doesn't want to do something she'll just look at you and shake her head no. She loves to impersonate animals. If you ask her what a monkey does, she'll put her hands under her arms and make little noises, and if you ask her what a bird does she'll flap her arms like she's flying, and we're working on what a pig does...she'll push the tip of her nose up but won't make the pig noises yet :) Question for other mommies who use/used Baby Signing Time...have you noticed that your child likes to sign more than talk? Bailey's great with the words she uses all the time, but I feel like she will imitate us before she will try new words. Mommy's favorite things about 15 months: Her curiosity! Even if it leads her to getting into trouble occasionally, I love watching her try to figure new things out. Her little personality seems to grow everyday. Every month I think "This is the best age yet!", but the next seems to always get better!

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for... 1. Extended warranties. On Christmas Eve morning my dryer quit working! It wasn't until yesterday that the company received the new heating element and was able to come fix it. Luckily, we had purchased the extended warranty when we bought it and it didn't cost us a thing to have it fixed. Let me tell you, 2 weeks is a LONG time to go without a dryer!! 2. Parents close by. OK, I'm really thankful for this one every day, but with no dryer it was great to be able to take my wet clothes to my parent's house! 3. Quiet nights at home. Last night we didn't even turn the TV on until after 7:00. I got home a little after 5, started dinner, we ate, Nick took Bailey almost straight to the bath tub (it was spaghetti night!) and I cleaned up the kitchen. Then the three of us went to the newly converted play room and played. It was so great just spending time with my two favorite people!!

Grandpa Ted

This past weekend Nick's dad & brothers came up from Tennessee to stay with us. We don't get to see them very often since they live 5 hours away, so we were really excited to have them up here! Unfortunately, Nick took all 3 of them to play basketball with him on Saturday morning and his dad ended up throwing out his back! So they ended up cutting their trip short and headed back home Saturday. I was afraid it would take Bailey a while to warm up to them since she hadn't seen them since summer, but Nick said she went right to them! (I was at work when they got into town). The boys were so good with her! Lee Alan is a freshman in high school and Bryce is 10...whatever grade that puts him in :) They're great (and young!) uncles! Saturday morning when I was getting Bailey up Ted came into the room and Bailey just squealed! It was great having them here.

Bryce helping Bailey open her presents.

Bailey in her new jammies with grandpa Ted. Nick definitely looks like his dad!

And the new chair that Pap made for Bailey!!! I absolutely love it! The boys helped by painting the whole thing red, and then Pap did the rest. I thought I had taken a picture of Lee Alan with Bailey, but I must of forgotten to :(

First Hair Cut!!

Bailey finally had her first hair cut on Wednesday! This was LONG overdue. I had just been really nervous about how she would handle the whole thing, because he hates having her hair messed with. We both got a hair cut on the same day and she sat in my lap while Andrea cut her hair. She ended up doing SOOOO good! We had brought a portable DVD player so she could watch that and it kept her mind off of the hair cut. She only looked up a couple of times. Here's some photos.

She hated the cape, so we went without.

7 Little Secrets

Well, Ashley tagged me in "7 Little Secrets", so here goes... 1. I would love to have a house full of kids! I think this comes from being an only child. I do have 2 step-sisters, but never lived with either of them. Nick on the other hand, would be perfectly content if we didn't have any more babies at all. We have agreed on 2, but I'm still pushing for 3. I hope and pray that the next time I get pregnant I'll have twins, because then I win! :) Even though twins don't run on either side of our families! If we were financially able, and I could EVER get him to agree to it I'll probably want 4 or 5...I know I must be crazy! And maybe that would change once I hit 2 or 3...who knows! 2. I want to go to Italy. One big problem...I HATE planes!!!! If I even start thinking about being on one it makes my stomach hurt! 3. I have 2 tattoos. This isn't a huge secret, but I guess it is for the blogger world :) I got my first one really just because no one thought I would ever do it. It's a small butterfly. My second I actually got with my mom, my aunt and my aunt's sister. We all went to the shop together, it was a second for me and my mom and a first for my aunt and her sister. This one is a tribal symbol that means "I rest in God". Although, I've always questioned if all the symbols in the shops actually stand for what they say... 4. I am a country girl at heart. Now, when I say country, this is a limited country girl. My big thing is I want to move out of town so I actually have room around me and so I can't see into my neighbor's houses from within my own! I definitely want at least 1 acre, but would love to one day live on 5 acres. And while I may not want to do any farm work now, I used to help my dad on the farm when I was little and I loved it. 5. There's a very, very, very small part of me that would like to pack up and move somewhere new just for the experience. I LOVE Georgetown. I love the fact that my family is all here and I love that we still have a small town atmosphere. But sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live somewhere else. This however, will probably never happen because I hate change and I don't think I could move away from my family! 6. One of my lifetime goals is to publish a book. I've always loved writing. I can't tell you how many different books I've started writing, only to change my mind 100 different times about how I wanted the story to go, so I never finish! My newest idea is "Diaries of a Working Mom". This would be based on my own life with some fictional parts. As a mom, whether working or stay-at-home, you have some very interesting and funny things happen throughout your day, and it's perfect material for a book! 7. I didn't become an official Maxwell until 12-23-08! Me and Nick got married June 24th, 2006. As most people who know me would confirm, I am a procrastinator! I did go to change my name on my license not long after I got married only to be told I had to change my name on my social security card first. Well, I printed off the paperwork, but never quite got around to sending it in. Then my bank let me go ahead and change my name WITHOUT having done my social yet...which is a little scary! So I really wasn't in a hurry to get it done. So I finally got on the ball in December, and on the 23rd my new social security card came in the mail!! Well, better late than never :) Alright, I want to know 7 Little Secrets about you, Shana Noe Halee Griggs Laura Vinson

Thankful Thursday

This week I'm thankful for...

1. Space storage bags! One of my New Year's Resolutions is to get more organized, and these really help do the trick. I am keeping most of Bailey's clothes just in case the next Maxwell baby is a girl, and up until now I've been storing them in her diaper boxes and I had a big box that her kitchen came in full of clothes. Last weekend I was able to move all of these clothes into 2 storage bags which now fit easily under my bed! This shows the before and after!! And I opened one up and all the clothes fluffed right back up like they do on TV.

2. Games. I LOVE board games! On New Year's Eve my friend's and I played the game Partini which is a lot of fun and we played Buzz,

which is a PlayStation 3 game. It was a blast! It's a trivia game that up to 8 people can play and you each get a "buzzer" to answer with. I highly recommend it. Apparently you can also get it for PlayStation 2 and we're going to look and see if Xbox 360 has something similar.