Happy Birthday Uncle Andrew!

Maggie Meets Santa!

This morning Mimi and I took Maggie to the Chick-fil-A on Pelham Road to decorate cookies with Santa. We had a blast decorating a gingerbread cookie and meeting Santa. Unfortunately, Maggie was a little overwhelmed and wasn't exactly hugging Santa. More or less she was trying to run away from him, as fast as she could!

However, she thoroughly enjoyed the cookie she made! We're headed to the Christmas Eve service at church this evening and then will be hunting for Christmas lights. We will be celebrating our family Christmas on Sunday when the rest of the family is in town. We're anxiously awaiting their arrival!

The best Christmas wishes for everyone from Maggie and Mommy!

Signed, Sealed and Hopefully Will Be Delivered...

Christmas cards are in, addressed and ready to go! I ordered them from the super-cute Pear Tree Greetings. So keep an eye out in your mail this week!!

UPDATE: My camera has been fixed!!! Thanks to my wonderful Dad who fixed it with a good old fashioned smacking...Seriously, he found several people on the internet who said they had had the same problem with their camera and hit it several times and it started working just fine again. Ta-da!

Maggie Must Have: First Juice!

Well, it certainly has been awhile since we've featured a Maggie Must Have, so this will most likely be our last one for 2009. Maggie's new must have is First Juice. I discovered this product, really out of desperation. Maggie and I were in Babies R Us one afternoon just browsing around and she ran out of juice. Well, if you have an infant, then you probably know that this can turn into somewhat of a catastrophe, so I quickly headed over to the food section. Here's the dilemna with juices: All juices have enormous amounts of sugar in them, so I always dilute them with water. See, we weren't headed home anytime soon, so I was going to have to buy water and juice! Coming down the juice aisle I spotted the First Juice section, so I strolled on over and picked one up. The fact that there is only 12 grams of sugar in the juice AND that Maggie loves the taste of them are not the only reasons I adore this company. The fascinating part about them is they come in sport-like, REUSABLE bottles! It's also organic and have fascinating flavors like, blueberry-purple carrot, which happens to be Maggie's favorite. (Go ahead and make fun of me for purchasing organic products for Maggie, most of my family does anyway) Another bonus if you write the company, the owner and founder, of the company will personally send you some coupons. So:

Low in Sugar: A+
Organic: A+
Reusable:A+
Customer Service:A+
Maggie Loves It (and it's healthy): Priceless!!

So take some time and visit the First Juice website and find a local retailer near you!!

The New Name...

As you can see we have finally chosen our new name...The Mommy Life. I hope you like the new name if you don't...oh well. My camera is broken and will cost almost $100 to fix :-( Maybe Santa will bring me a new one.

Holy Cow...It's Been Awhile!

Ciao, blog readers, it's been too long. Classes are finally over for the semester and I'm extremely thankful for the break.

Maggie is continuing to explore her world and is into EVERYTHING! We will occasionally find tupperware in strange places and her toys in even stranger places...like Charlie's food bowl. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we hope you did as well. We headed down to Florida to visit with Aunt Amy, Uncle Mike, and Cooper. We enjoyed several days of playing on the beach and lounging around the beautiful condo we were staying in. We also were able to visit Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo and Maggie even got to feed a giraffe...hopefully I can post the video soon! Unfortunately, Maggie caught a cold at the end was not in a happy mood for the last couple days. I think we're over the hump and hopefully it will be smooth, healthy sailing through the end of the year. We have a busy weekend coming up two Christmas parties and a cookie swap. Meanwhile, enjoy some pics from our Thanksgiving vacation!

Maggie Meets Mr. Landon!

On October 31st, Maggie and I headed to Lexington to help celebrate David, my friend Mary's son, first birthday. One of the best parts of the party, was that Maggie and I got to meet Mr. Landon, my friend Melanie's five week old little boy. He was super cute and so sweet! Melanie and I were college roommates and it's hard to believe we've known each other for almost ten years. We've been through a lot together and I'm so glad that we've gotten to share having children close together. Mr. Landon is such a blessing and I know Melanie and her husband David will be wonderful parents to this handsome little man!

Halloween Fun...

Well, I know this is extremely late but hey better late than never...right? Maggie second Halloween stretched to two weekends and she had tons of fun. The weekend before Halloween we headed over to The Pavilion for their "Enchanted Forest" event. Maggie dressed as a bumble bee and enjoyed petting rabbits, pigs, and some funny looking birds. She was too young to participate in the jumpers so we headed to the Enchanted Forest tour, where Shrek, Pooh, Snow White, and Tigger gave her candy. On Halloween, October, 31st, Publix was letting children trick-or-treat in the store. So we headed to our local Publix and let Maggie dress as a pumpkin. She definitely was the cutest pumpkin in the patch!

Katie tagged me...

A - Age: 26
B - Bed size: queen
C - Chore you hate: dusting
D - Dog's name: Charlie
E - Essential start your day item: watching Mickey Mouse clubhouse in bed with Maggie
F - Favorite color: Green
G - Gold or Silver: silver
H - Height: 5'4"
I - I am: going to hug Maggie a little extra tonight (a lady I am in school with was killed this weekend and her daughter was seriously injured in the wreck)
J - Job: Mommy, daycare worker, eBay-er
K - Kids: One--Maggie!
L - Living arrangements: At home with Mom and Dad
M - Mom's name: Cathy
N - Nicknames: Abby
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: none, thankfully
P - Pet Peeve: Arrogance
Q - Quote from a movie: "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories" Deborah Kerr (An Affair to Remember)
R - Right or left handed: right
S - Siblings: 1 sister, one brother
T - Time you wake up: Anywhere between 7-8
Underwear: yes
V - Vegetable you dislike: broccoli
W - Ways you run late: um, it's called being a mom
X - X-rays you've had: none
Y - Yummy food you make: pot roast, pasta dishes
Z - Zoo favorite: elephants


I tag YOU!! Have fun!

Re-naming the blog...

Well, I have decided to rename my blog...Only I'm having some trouble incoming up with some names. So, I'm soliciting your help in the process...post your ideas and we'll see who wins! Here are some I've been thinking about...

The Mommy Diaries (play on the book "The Nanny Diaries")
The Mommy Life

Those are seriously the only two I can think of. I'm blaming my lack of creativity on lack of sleep and our too busy schedule. Give us some suggestions huh?

Mangia, Mangia!

In case you didn't know that means..."we eat" in Italian! As most of you know, I usually cook dinner during the week for Mimi and GrandPop. I have come to thoroughly enjoy cooking when not to long ago I would have rather warmed up a Lean Cuisine Meal. It doesn't hurt that Mimi and GrandPop have a spectacular kitchen and almost every utensil you could ever want for the kitchen. Also, since (as noted in a previous post) I can't really afford to help out with the bills having a dinnner ready for Mimi and GrandPop when they get home seems to be the least I can do.

Recently, Mimi has been wanting me to fix Shrimp and Grits, a typical Southern dish. So last Friday I gave it a shot and if I do say so myself it turned out pretty delicious! I used The Neely's recipe from The Food Network Channel. Here is a picture of how it turned out...

I did make one variation to the recipe, instead of 2 pounds of shrimp I only used one, which was more than enough for the three of us. We even had plenty of the shrimp mix leftover for a "take two" dinner. We simply added a jar of our favorite marinara sauce with the shrimp mix and fixed some fettucine noodles and made a fancy spaghetti night. Mangia everyone!

Charlie's Special Day

For those of you who know me then you know of my love for dogs. And my big Charlie Brown is my special dog that I bought at Pets, Inc. in Columbia. Charlie's life was turned upside down last year when first we moved home to Greenville (leaving behind his roommate Sam) and then when Maggie was born. He suddenly had a room of toys he couldn't touch and this tiny thing that screamed and took attention away from him. Well, slowly him and Maggie have become better friends and I think it's safe to say that Charlie is Maggie's favorite toy---he's interactive! Maggie feeds Charlie every night, with GrandPop's help, of course. And she loves to give him treats! Hopefully, we'll be able to post video of it soon.

Back to the point of this blog...Charlie had a special day a couple weeks ago at Waggin' in the Waterpark at Southside Park here in Greenville. It's an annual event that allows dogs to "take over" the water park and swim around and play. This year we took Charlie and he had a blast. Charlie and I's picture was the only one to make it into the newspaper! So if you venture over to this website you can view the full gallery of all the dogs that day. It was a great event and we will be returning next year!

UPDATE: Charlie will be getting another special day soon...Greenville Tech is hosting Bark in the Park in October!

A Penny For Your Thoughts...

A new feature we will be displaying the blog is "A Penny For Your Thoughts: Fun Quotes". If you take a gander down the right side of the blog you will see this new feature. We will display quotes that I find interesting, funny, or inspiring. If you have any feel free to submit them!!

Update: We Are Alive...

Obviously, Maggie and I have been quite busy as you can see from the lack of blogging. Being in school, working two part time jobs, and being a full time mom has definitely been exhausting. Maggie is doing really well and seems to enjoy being on the go so much. She's walking all over the place ;practically running sometimes! AND...we have our fourth tooth!!!

Lately I've been struggling with feelings of wanting to be selfish and wanting to return to my old life. Why I'm not sure; it was a life that was very empty and self-indulgent. Even now as I'm writing this it's hard to think that before Maggie it was rare that I was headed to bed at 9:15 on a Saturday night. Back then my nights were just getting started. Now I find it hard to stay awake past 11...my how life has changed. Instead of bars and designer purses it's bibs and diapers. I guess the hardest part is the money, as it usually is. I miss being able to walk into a store and not worrying if spending $100 would break the bank, now I worry if spending $10 will affect me being able to pay my bills. I know this is where faith comes in and that I just need to pray. So pray with me or for me if you will. Maggie is the best thing to ever happen to me and I hope that I can one day provide a great life for her.

On a lighter note..now that we're into more of a routine I will definitely try and blog some more...Ciao!

Back In School!

As all the kids headed back to school this fall so did I. (This would be the reason for my lack in blogging) I've enrolled in classes at Greenville Tech to hopefully begin my road to becoming a nurse. The decision to go back to school was a bitter sweet one. Bitter in that it's time away from Maggie but sweet that I will be able to make a good life for Maggie and I. So keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we begin a very hectic couple of years.

Maggie's One Year Photo Shoot

The other week we were fortunate enough to have my sister in law Katies' sister over to take Maggie's one year photos. Sarah did a fantastic job and the day turned out perfect as we were able to take all the pictures outside!

I highly recommend Sarah for any events you have coming up! Here is a link to her photography website to contact her and to look at more of Maggie's one year pics! Thanks Sarah!

Happy Birthday Toot-Toot!

Maggie Celebrates Her First Birthday...At Disney!

What better place could there be to spend Maggie's first birthday than at Disney World! On July 11th (the day Maggie was born) we packed up the car and headed to our favorite vacation spot. We had a fabulous time and Maggie had plenty of new adventures awaiting her. Here is how our week went:



Day 1: We checked into our Grande Villa at the Old Key West Resort. It was a beautiful Villa and the best part, everyone had their own bathroom...so important! We then headed over to the Magic Kingdom for a Winnie the Pooh character dinner at the Crystal Palace. Maggie loved the characters and gave them all hugs. Everyone around us enjoyed watching Maggie squeal and hug the characters. For dessert, our waiter Rand, brought Maggie a cupcake with a candle and a card signed by all the characters. We sang "Happy Birthday" and giggled as Maggie eventually mashed and devoured the cupcake! After dinner, we of course, had to head to Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World. We finished the evening by riding Cinderella's Carousel.







Day 2: July in Florida is hot...really hot. So we mostly hung out by the pool on Monday and Maggie, being the little dolphin that she is, loves to swim! That evening we headed to Epcot to have dinner at the Japan complex at the Hibachi style restaurant. We had a great chef, who was super entertaining! Unfortunately, it was quite loud and scared Maggie a little bit. She also knocked her mouth on the edge of the table causing her to scream for a couple minutes. Thankfully, everyone in the restaurant was quite understanding (mainly b/c they all had small children with them too). After dinner, we watched a Billy Joel covervand which was very entertaining. Maggie, along with being a dolphin is quit the dancer and danced the night away during the concert!





Day 3: Aloha!! Have I mentioned that July in Florida is hot?? Because the mercury kept rising we hustled down to the pool to cool down. We had an early appointment to do a family photo shoot at the Polynesian Resort so we headed up early from the pool to get dolled up. Our family dressed very classy in khaki and white and had a good photo session with our photographer. After our shoot, we headed to the Luau!!! Here's the thing with the Luau, it's outside. So unfortunately, it had rained earlier in the day causing Orlando to turn into a steam basket. So it was extremely, extremely hot. Maggie was hot and tired because her afternoon nap had been cut short. So needless to say she was not a happy camper during the dinner but we seemed to turn a corner as the show began. It was a great show and let's just say...we probably won't go back to the Luau until Maggie is a little bit older.

On Wednesday we were on our own for dinner so everyone mostly hung around the pool then headed to the Magic Kingdom in the evening. Thursday morning we had a delicious buffet breakfast at the Tusker House in the Animal Kingdom park. It was another character breakfast and Maggie, of course, loved the characters. Her favorite is definitely Mickey! Doesn't she look like she's begging Mickey to take her with him?? We had a fantastic trip and it was all due to the generosity of Mimi and GrandPop. Our family has been truly blessed to be able to make several trips to Disney World...three to be exact...during Maggie's first year. I hope that Maggie and I will have the ability to return the generosity we have received over the past year...

Happy Birthday...to me :-)

Today is my 26th birthday! Maggie and I spent this morning at the church nursery and then had lunch with Mimi and Great Granny. We finished the evening off with a delicious dinner at Portofino's....I love that place. Thank you everyone for the sweet birthday wishes!

Four Generations go on a Road Trip...and Survive!

Back in June, Mimi and I accompanied Granny on a trip to Cincinnati. I have many wonderful memories in Cincinnati as we use to go there almost every Christmas growing up so I was excited to go back. Maggie, being the great traveler that she is, of course, did fantastic! On our way up to Ohio we stopped at Cove Lake in Tennessee...it's nice to know some things never change. We use to stop at Cove Lake almost every trip to Cincinnati.

We spent a lot of time with family and several of Granny's friends. It was so wonderful to see everyone and we just had to make a stop at some of our favorite restaurants including; Montgomery Inn and Skyline Chili. The food was even better than I remember...I'm anxious to get back to enjoy some ribs and phony conies!

On our way home we stopped in Winchester, Kentucky to visit with Granny's sister JoAnne and her daughter Leslie and her husband Dale. They purchased a beautiful home or should I say mansion? Their front door alone is 25 feet tall and the house has more rooms than you could count. And you have to use cell phones in order to find each other in the house. It's absolutely gorgeous and I can see why they fell in love with the house! They invited us to stop by anytime and spend the night so hopefully we can make it back up soon!

Happy 1st Birthday Maggie!

Happy 1st Birthday my dearest Maggie!! I can't believe you are already one year old! This year, at times, felt like it was going so slow and then other times it felt like it flew by. How do I even begin to express my gratitude to the Lord for giving you to me. You've blessed my life in so many ways and have brought a powerful meaning to my life. As usual, we'll be traveling on your birthday because we're headed to Disney World! Your third time in your wee 12 months on earth. I know we'll have a fabulous time and create numerous new memories to share. Much, much love my little one...I'll like you forever and love you for always....

Love,
Mommy

Happy Independence Day...We've Been Busy!

Happy Independence Day!!


We've managed to stay incredibly busy over the past couple weeks, so sorry for the delinquicy in posting. Two weeks ago we enjoyed a week long visit with Aunt Amy and Uncle Mike. We had a great time and hit all the restaurant spots. Also, during their visit I was helping host a shower for Melanie who is expecting Baby Landon in September, so Maggie and I made a road trip down to Columbia.

After we came back from Columbia, the entire family headed downtown for a delicious dinner at Smoke on the Water. Sadly, Aunt Amy and Uncle Mike had to go back home the next morning. Also, Mimi and GrandPop left the same too, to go to Charleston for a couple days to celebrate their anniversary. (Happy 35 years Mimi and GrandPop!) Maggie and I had supper club on Monday night and it was fun to get together with all the girls and even the littlest members of supper club were there; Maggie, Aubri, and Emery.
Today for Independence Day we went over to the Lehman's for a delicous dinner of ribs, corn and homemade ice cream. Coming up: Four Generations Go On a Road Trip...and Survive!

Maggie's First Tooth---Finally!!

On June 1st, Mimi was watching Maggie while I went down to the warehouse and work. When I returned home Mimi informed me that Maggie had her very first tooth. I checked her mouth and sure enough there it was! It had just broken through--which explains some moodiness over the past couple days--and you could see the very tip of it! Almost eleven months later there it was :-)

I'm so proud of my little munchkin--she'll be eleven months tomorrow and while I'm extremely happy that she's happy, healthy and growing it makes me sad at how fast her first year has gone. At some times this year I felt I was too busy dealing with the day to day small things that I've missed her changing. The best part has been seeing her learn things and watching her little brain work. As the old saying goes, "time flies when your having fun!"

Look At What Mimi Made...

A couple weekends ago Mimi suddenly became inspired and made this...

This adorable bib features fun frogs jumping around and is detailed with a green ribbon accented with a swirly yellow ribbon. It is too cute!

Maggie was thrilled to model the bib and hopefully Mimi will make one for Maggie for the Fourth of July! (hint, hint :-)

Happy Birthday Aunt Amy!!

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommie's out there! I hope everyone had just as much fun as we did. We first headed to the early service, then to McDonald's for a quick breakfast, home to change, then finally headed downtown to Artisphere. It was the perfect day to go downtown, it was warm but not too hot. We walked through the artists' tents and enjoyed some delicious food at Smoke on the Water. Maggie's pretty dress was a gift from some of the ladies at Miracle Hill...
For an extra little treat in the evening we headed to Bruster's for an ice cream. Even Maggie got a free mango sorbet which she thoroughly enjoyed!

The View From Here...

This has been the view of our front yard this past week. GrandPop decided to put in a tankless water heater and replace the water and sewer lines. While it was something that needed to be done, we are on day 8 and are ready to have a green yard back....

Submission...Yea Right!

This post has a round-about thing to do with Maggie. I am notorious for constantly changing the radio station in the car and it's quite annoying for some folks. So, as usual I was skimming through the radio stations and heard Beth Moore speaking on one of the local Christian radio stations here. I've heard her speak before and she's always interesting and pretty funny. She just happened to be talking about marriage, a subject I know very little about. She started commenting on submission...well, if you know me then you know this probably isn't my strong suit. Submission used to be a four letter word to me; you don't say it and don't expect me to do it. Then Beth Moore quoted another man's view of submission: "Submission is learning to duck so that God can hit your husband." I thought that was too hysterical and so true! Hearing that quote was like having a paradigm shift for me, my views of submission have almost completely changed. While I don't know if I'll ever get married, I don't feel that Maggie is lacking in wonderful male Christian role-models; men who love their wives and families and Christ loved the church. I don't pray for a husband because I feel selfish as I've been given so much, I simply pray that God's Will, will be done and that I'll recognize it when I see it.

Disney Day Five: Our Last Day

On our fifth and final day at Disney we again headed back to the Magic Kingdom (can you tell which park is our favorite?). Since before Maggie was born GrandPop has been talking about riding Dumbo with her, so we made it our goal to make sure they rode Dumbo. I was a little nervous about her going on this ride as there aren't really any straps for her and it goes pretty fast. My fears were unfounded as she smiled and seemed thrilled the entire ride! I'm sure it helped that she had GrandPop holding onto her tightly :-) After a quick tour around the Magic Kingdom we hopped on a boat and headed for lunch at the Polynesian Resort. The Polynesian Resort is my personal favorite resort and I hope to stay there again someday. After a delicious counter-service meal we headed to ride the Monarail over to Epcot.We had dinner reservations at Chef de France which is a super-delicious restaurant in the World Showcase at Epcot. To my surprise this restaurant had the best style high-chair and it's pretty loud in there so if your child squeals it's not really disturbing anyone. As we were eating dinner we noticed a man walking around pushing a fancy cart with a dinner plate under a fancy lid. He rolled it over close to our table and pulled of the lid...it was Remi from Ratatouille! The little mouse danced and squeaked, it was too cute! After a delectable dinnner we headed back to the hotel to pack up as we were leaving the next day.The week flew by and we had tons of fun. I was sad to leave but I try to keep in mind that in only 90-some odd days we would be returning. This time with Aunt Amy, Uncle Mike, Uncle Andrew, and Aunt Katie in tow. We'll be celebrating Maggie's first birthday down there with a special character dinner!

Disney Day 4

On our fourth day at Disney we headed back to the Magic Kingdom so Maggie could ride "It's a Small World". Maggie rode this ride when we came in December but she was a little too young to enjoy all the colors and sites. However, this time around she was fascinated with all the dancing dolls and sounds about her.

We then headed to Mickey's Toon Town and took a tour of Mickey's house. After that we hopped on the Disney World Railroad and took a wonderful train ride around the park. Maggie loved it! Shortly, after we headed back to hotel as we had dinner reservations at the Turf Club at the resort.

Disney Day 3

Brrrrrr....that is one way to describe the way the weather was on Day 3 at Disney. Overnight, it turned cold (cold being 65 degrees; for us Southern girls anything under 80 is considered cold) and windy. So, we bundled up and headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios, affectionately and formerly known as MGM Studios. The park was extremely crowded and many of the rides had long waits so we mainly shopped. However, we were able to see Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Friends Live! Maggie watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse almost every morning while I'm getting ready so I was very excited to see how she would react when seeing the characters live. Unfortunately, we had to sit on the floor which made it a little difficult for Mimi and GrandPop but they did great! Maggie also loved the show and bounced up and down and squealed! It was great!

We then had a delicious dinner at the Prime Time Cafe, which is a 50's home-cooking style dinner. The food was absolutely delicious and the waiter was a hoot! They make sure you keep your elbows off the table and clean your plate. By the time the sun went down it was even more chilly so we just headed on back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

Disney Day 2

On our second day at Disney we had an absolutely relaxing day! We decided, since Maggie had never been swimming, that she should have her first swimming adventure and she did great! She was a little nervous at first, so I sat in the water behind her. Soon after, she was splashing and squealing just having a grand-ol' time! Mimi didn't stay for the entire pool experience because she had a spa appointment, which she thoroughly deserved and enjoyed. Here is a picture of us swimming in the pool at Saratoga Springs. Maggie's bathing suit is a supercute design from Target.After the pool, we all cleaned up and ate a quick lunch at the resort. We then headed over to the Magic Kingdom for our dinner reservation. Our reservations were for the Plaza restaurant right off Main Street. It was a throw-back to old ice cream parlor days and the food was absolutely delicious...I highly recommend the rueben! We had a super-sweet waitress who gave Maggie a light up Tinkerbell that she very quickly put in her mouth :-) As we were leaving the park the sun had set and the castle was all lit up. It was so beautiful I had to take a picture...

Happy Birthday GrandPop!

Disney: Day 1

On our first day at Disney we headed to Epcot to see the Flower Power Festival plus that's where we had dinner reservations that night. We had a delicious counter service meal at Mexico and I certainly recommend the churros for a sweet treat! Maggie rode her second-ever ride at Mexico. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it but she handled it quite well. After that we took our time making it around "the World". Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Uncle Mike and Aunt Amy as they had to head back to reality of the working world.

For dinner we headed to the Land Grill, which was a fun character dinner. We were able to see Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. The characters made their way around as you ate so they stopped by our table about four times each. Maggie was a little aprehensive at first but by their second trip around she was loving it! She would squeal, wave and clap as they came around. Another cool thing about the restaurant is it turns! By the time we finished our meal the place had made a complete 360! At Disney they have "stroller parking" which is where you can park your stroller while you ride rides or eat at the restaurants. Well, when we came out of the restaurant Maggie's brand new MacLaren stroller was NOT where we had parked it...can we say heart failure! After a little panic and some direction from some friendly folks we found it... some employees had come and moved all the strollers that were in the area where we parked the MacLaren and moved them into the main stroller parking area. Apparently, they tend to do this at Disney which I understand the point but a little heads-up would be nice!

Happy Easter!

Today was Maggie's first Easter! Maggie actually received her second Easter basket this morning. Aunt Amy gave her one in Florida last week and Mimi gave Maggie one this morning. It was filled with a pink dress and sweater along with a new book about Jesus and a Mickey Mouse picture frame that we bought for her at Disney. Maggie's Easter dress was a gift from Jan Malone. It was such a girlie pink dress and she got so many compliments on it!

We headed to the (too) early service at church this morning because we went to Asheville this afternoon to meet Uncle Terry and Aunt Diane, Maggie's great-great aunt and uncle. I'm so thrilled that Maggie is getting to meet all of her extended family! We had a delicious lunch at the Corner Kitchen and it was wonderful to be able to catch up with them. Overall it was a wonderful, relaxing day!

Maggie Must Have: PediPeds!

Almost since Maggie was born Great Granny has been determined to buy Maggie a pair of shoes. Well, one Saturday Mimi, Great Granny, Maggie and I were out shopping and stopped by the adorable little store The Lilypad where they carry super-cute baby clothes and accessories. They also happen to carry PediPed's, a children's shoe line. These adorable shoes range from dressy to sporty to casual. We picked out Maggie a great pair of casual pink shoes so they match several of her outfits perfectly! They are soft-soled shoes and supposedly are the next best thing to bare feet for little babies. The only down side to the shoes is they're velcro and Maggie has figured out how to take them off other than that they're fantastic!!

UPDATE: Here is Maggie in her newest pair of PediPed's! These were Maggie's Easter shoes; a gift from Mimi.

Happy Birthday Uncle Mike!

Happy Spring!

Happy first day of Spring everyone! Maggie and I have been enjoying the warmer weather...it's so nice not to lug sweater, hats, and blankets everywhere with us! Unfortunately, we have had a little bout with allergies but I think the rain this past weekend helped calm them down a little bit.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today was Maggie's very first St. Patrick's Day and boy was it busy! Maggie's great-great Aunt Linda (yes another one) and her husband John are in town for the week and we spent St. Patrick's Day with Mimi, Linda and Granny. I feel so fortunate that Maggie is able to meet her extended family! Maggie and I woke up this morning and hurried to get ready so we could pick Linda up at her hotel. We then headed to Granny's to visit for a little bit then we met Mimi for lunch. We ended up sitting at the restaurant for two hours catching up and talking. Linda is actually Granny's baby sister and is only two years older than Mimi. It's been wonderful to visit with them as we only see them every five years or so.

Happy Birthday Mimi!

This is two days late but Happy Birthday Mimi!

Maggie's Must-Have: Avalon Organics Baby Products

We will be starting a new feature on the blog...every now and then we will feature a "Maggie Must-Have" where we will highlight items that Maggie loves. So here is our very first...

I don't know about you but growing up I never really paid attention to any product labels, that is, until I started working at Bella Lucce. It wasn't until then when I really started looking at what goes into and onto my body. When I had Maggie I was definitely concerned about what products I would use for her. And since Bella Lucce doesn't have a baby line (hint,hint, Lela :-)I knew I would have to find a new bath product. I didn't want to use chemical-filled products on her, especially since she had been in the NICU when she was first born and had been pumped full of antibiotics already. So started the search...and we found Avalon Organics, certified organic baby products.

The product line is wonderful and we use almost every baby product they offer! Maggie loves the shampoo, it leaves her skin soft and her hair smelling wonderful. I love it too because I can pronounce and know every ingredient that is going onto her skin! So far I've found the products at Babies R Us and Publix, who even carries their traveling kit! They are a little bit on the pricier side than regular baby shampoo but those few pennies are definitely worth my piece of mind. So until Bella Lucce (hopefully) creates a baby line; Maggie's must have bath product is: Avalon Organic for Baby!