When I am President...

I will outlaw intermissions during the Disney Princesses on Ice shows...

A Derek Moment...

Derek, at the ENT specialist, for a painful popping in his ear:

Doctor: "How is your hearing?"

Derek: "Huh?"

Kelly: "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Well Crap

Seems I'm on a roll today. It has occured to me that this is not a fine day to be me. Something clicked in my head this morning when I woke up and decided for me that this would be a crappy day. Because, you know, we don't actually CHOOSE to be in bad moods, the thought alone is just ridiculous(Yes, I'm being extremely sarcastic).

So, I already talked about the old lady in the tahoe, but I was in a bitchy mood waaaaay before that. I went off on Derek early this morning. It didn't turn into an arguement or something, it just went along the lines of "what's the matter?", "I'm just having a bad day, don't talk to me". I got better, but then little bitchy perched right back on my shoulder and planted herself there firmly. I got frustrated with a work issue, and ended up being very ugly to one of my coworkers. It was totally uncalled for, and I apologized, but of course I still feel shitty about it. I didn't want to be in a bad mood, and I surely didn't want to act like a 2 year old at work. I have since kicked little bitchy off of my shoulder and invited little sweetie to stay with me the rest of the day.

Oh, and coworker, if you ever read this, again, I am so, so, so sorry. You are a dear and did not deserve for me to be bitchy to you. Please forgive me. Are we still friends? :)

Old Lady in a Tahoe...

Can you tell this is not going to be a very pleasant post? Oh, and I might be in a bit of a bad mood anyway, why, I don't know, and it's not important. I just am.

Backstory - my office is located in an area of town that is ridiculously crowded, hence parking is hard to find. I had parked at the end of the street, conveniently located mere steps away from the side entrance to where I work. I like to park here, nevermind the fact that it's one of a very few places we can park without certain people at work throwing fits, it's the last parking place, therefore I know I almost always going to be able to leave with ease (I say almost, because I have a tendency to run into parked vehicles, which is why I prefer to park where the chances of me doing so are cut in half).

So I got to work early and got the sweet parking space. Of course, something comes up, and I had to run an errand on my morning break (plus, it's two hour parking and the meter maid is always out there waiting...)so I leave my sweet space and do my errand. Come back and there is an old lady in a Tahoe pulling up in my space. Dammit. And the damn thing is too big for her to even be in there, her rear end is hanging out in the alley. So I watch her slowly make her way to the bank behind my building. So I decide to make the block a few times to give her time to be in and out and get my space back. Three times around the block, the woman is STILL IN THE BANK, filling out crap that I think could have been done before she even left her house, which is so what I do before I go to the bank. Oh, and something else - I always use the DRIVE THROUGH. I understand that sometimes you have requests or questions that you would rather ask the teller in person, but I also understand that pretty much all of the tasks done at a bank can be done in the drive through. So after turning blood red and thinking some pretty bad thoughts on this obviously inconsiderate woman, I give up and park farther away, in a space that is not too bad, but it's not my sweet space, and it makes me sad.

As I get out of my car and make my way to the side door, guess who's finally getting in her giant automobile and getting out of my space?

Grrrrr.

Momma's got a brand new bag!

Twenty eight years and two days ago, a beautiful princess was born. Her mother and father rejoiced in the joy that came with bringing such a flawless, wonderful human being in the world. All the world sang with happiness that such a lovely creature was among them. She would never have to want for anything, never have to lift a finger, never have to work, she was to spend all her days perched upon a cloud with hundreds of faithful servants catering to her every need.

Oh, and in a little hospital in a small town in Mississippi, I was born too. :)

Yes, my birthday has once again come and gone, and I must say it was a rather nice birthday. It started off great. Derek and Neely both presented me with cards - Neely's was covered in crayon markings - then I was serenaded with "Happy Birthday to you" by my favorite little singer, then off to work. I was spoiled by my coworkers who had brought food to celebrate my special day. I was given really nice gifts at work, and then left at lunch to enjoy the rest of my day at home.

I got phone calls from friends and family, and it was so nice talking to all of them.

I have to say out of all of my presents, my most favorite is my new purse. It is awesome. I have been in much need of a new purse, my current one was literally falling to pieces, lol. My mom gave me a gift card, so I decided to go out and see if I could find a purse at the store from which the gift card came. Amid all the boring black and brown leather purses, I came across this purple leather one and immediately fell in love with it! So it came home with me and we are getting along very well together.

REALLY REALLY WONDERFUL NEWS ALERT!!!

Derek got a promotion! How cool is that! He was at his new job for one month and 6 days and he gets offered a sales job! Unbelievable! His title is Rehab Technology Specialist, and he will sell custom made wheelchairs. He has a lot to learn, but I think he will do just wonderful and make his bosses very proud. We have no one to thank but God for blessing us once again!

Happy days are here again...

Whew! Things have changed in the D Household since I last updated. I am happy to report that my husband has found love in his new job. As of May 14, my husband has been at a wonderful new job in the home health equipment business. It is something he has done before back in high school and college and always enjoyed it. The way the job came about is nothing less than a miracle and we owe it all to the Lord because none of it would have been possible if not for our faith in him. So, for the first time since Neely was 6 weeks old, my husband is no longer in the farming business. I got a good laugh at myself the first time it rained since he started the new job because I caught myself thinking about Derek not having to work the next day because of the rain, lol. I can't begin to explain how wonderful this change is for us. For the first time in months I have been cooking meals at normal dinnertime hours. We are eating dinner together as a family again, something that is easily taken for granted. But not us, never again.

In a way, I am glad we had to go through this tough time, because it made us see just how valuable family is and how we weren't taking advantage of all the opportunities we had to spend quality family time together, but now we have learned our lesson and have become that much closer as a family. Derek and I also suffered because of what his job was doing to him. We became nothing more than people who lived in the same house who shared a child. We would spend our evenings in seperate rooms, and every once in a while give a good night or good bye kiss. Now, we are back to the loving couple we were for so many years. We know that no matter what comes our way, we will never let our marriage and family life lose it's quality. We are stronger than ever now, and we will only get stronger.

So, now that I have shared our happy news with you, I will also share some recent pictures. God bless you all!

Neely and Derek at the zoo, early May


Most recent pic of us, mid April


At the March of Dimes WalkAmerica, May 12th


Our team, the Katiebugs

Back! With pics!!

Yes, it has taken me yet another three weeks to post again, I apologize. I am very bad about starting something and then losing interest, but I force myself to TRY to keep this blog updated as often as I can. Even though at the time I am typing this, I haven't gone public with the blog, but one day someone will be reading this, and think, "why did she go so long between posts?" No, probably not. Oh well, I guess I just wanted to think highly of myself for a moment. Okay, moment is over.

Since my last post, we have been quite busy. Easter weekend came and I'm pretty sure it is still going on, at least that is what the plate full of Easter candy sitting above my microwave is telling me, it's sole purpose now is to encourage (read: bribe) Neely to be on her best behavior, thus being rewarded when I deem she is worthy. It's been working pretty darn good, I may say. And you will be very proud of me to know that I have not once sampled from it. I have no idea how, but I'm proud of myself anyway.

So I got my first taste of what it is like having a child in school. Granted, she's in preschool, but preschools still have field trips, and this was Neely's first! On Good Friday, Neely's school took her class to Triple N Ranch for a egg hunt, as well as to visit and play with the animals on the ranch. I was off that day for the holiday, so I decided to chaperone. I couldn't miss out on her first field trip. She had a really good time and was such a good girl the entire time! I know that it was because she was around her teachers and knew she better behave (I HAVE to learn their trick). I was getting so many compliments on how cute and pretty she is. Then we came home and I begged her to nap and she laughed at me. Saturday was another egg hunt. It was our church's egg hunt and it was a lot of fun. I think by the time this egg hunt was over, the weekend took it's toll on her, and my girl went down for a nap like a champ! I got over three hours to do whatever I wanted! (FTR, it was spent mostly on the couch eating ice cream, but I did do a little laundry). Easter Sunday was nice. After church we went to my parents' house and spent the afternoon with my family.

Derek is still working long days (nights), but we have seen a light at the end of our tunnel. He has been talking to someone he knows who runs a home health equipment company, and it seems like a matter of when he will start, not so much of if anymore. So we are praying that we get the phone call soon.

Derek actually had two saturdays off recently. Not in a row, of course, but still, we take them when we can get them.

Okay, I think that is it for now. See you in a month!

Remember Me?

Yes, I know. It has been almost an entire month since I have posted, but man, things are very busy for me right now. There are and have been, so many things going on in our lives right now, that any free time I have, whether it be at work or at home, is used just not moving or thinking.

The number one thing right now on our minds is Derek's job. He started this job in early January, and for about at month (this is from my point of view, Derek will more than likely disagree), things were going very well. Then, all of a sudden, his hours became ridiculously long (most days he puts in about 13-14 hours) and we started to see him less and less. It has gotten to where he only sees Neely for about 30 minutes a day, and that is because I have been allowing her to stay up past her bedtime so she can see her daddy and he can tuck her into bed like he has since she was 9 months old. We have been trying to look at the positives - he is making more money than he has at any other job, although once we added up the hours he has been putting in, we kinda wished he was being paid hourly, and the fact that he has a job is enough to be thankful for. I remember late last fall, when he was in between jobs and our bill money was running out, it was the worst feeling ever. Plus, there are so many people around us who can't find jobs, I find myself feeling guilty if I start to complain. The only thing we can do right now is trust that God is going to take care of us, but we also need to understand that he is going to take care of us in HIS time, not ours.

In other news, Derek's brother, Donovan came for a visit this week. He came down on Monday afternoon, and stayed with us until Wed. afternoon. He is visiting other family/friends, then he'll be back on Monday afternoon, and he will leave Tuesday morning. Neely enjoyed getting two days off from school so she could play with her "Unka Don-ban", but like me, she is happy to get back to her regular schedule.

No recent pics, our camera is broken, so I have been relying on my mother-in-law to take pictures of Neely (she just hates doing that, lol) and emailing them to us. Hopefully I can get some newer pictures of the princess up soon.

Be back in another month! :)

Blah, Blah, Blah...

Ugh. I'm feeling kinda blah right now. Actually, I have been feeling kinda blah for a few days. I guess you could say that I'm in a rut, but I have no clue why. I suppose it is from constantly coming and going and barely stopping and resting before we come and go again, therefore dragging me down and making me feel blah-like.

Not that I haven't had fun getting run down and exhausted. We have had a fun filled week. Saturday, Derek and I went to Memphis for the Farm and Gin Show (I think that is what it's called). With both of us having jobs in the ag business, we wanted to check it out, since we had never been before. We got up very early and left around 7:00 am (Neely spent Friday night with Derek's parents). First we went shopping and then downtown to eat lunch, then to the gin show and finally on the road home at 4:00. Then we got home around 6:30, got our girl and headed home. It was a very busy day, but it was also a nice day.

Sunday wasn't busy, but there was a bit of a change in our regular sunday schedule. Our church started revival that day, and we all brought a covered dish for lunch afterward. So we didn't get back home until around 1:45, and we had to put Neely down for her nap right away. I have learned that she hates it when we make her go to sleep as soon as we get home. I hate doing it, but she HAS to have a nap, she is a monster if she doesn't nap during the day.

So I guess I just haven't gotten my energy back, but I will get it back. This Saturday is my anniversary (6 great years!), and while I'm pretty sure that Derek is going to be in the field that day (fine by me), our only celebration will more than likely be takeout from our favorite restaurant and a rented movie to watch after Neely goes to sleep. I only plan to leave the house for necessary errands and church, other than that, I'm housebound.

Whew!

Every day for the past week and a half, I have been telling myself that I needed to update the blog, because I know that if I slack off for more than a few days at a time I will all in all forget about it, which is something I really don't want to do. I love being able to come here and fill you all in on all of the goings on with us, and it is just a teensy bit therapeutic for me when I am just a tad stressed and can just come here and share my frustrations, fears, worries, etc. and I always feel better afterward.

Neely's rash is on it's way out of our lives, and she is only too happy to agree with me when I tell her it looks much better. It still bothers her a little when I try to bathe her, but we are making it. I also stopped using the pre-moistened wipes made for potty trained children, as it contained fragrances and could very well be irritating her sensitive bottom. I think I finally caught on to it when Neely would scream in horror when I would reach for them. I feel terrible that I never caught on to it before, but the important part is I chunked them and have started using the sensitive diaper wipes on used on her as a baby. She was relieved when I explained to her that the "green wipes" (in reference to the green color on the package)were gone forever and we now use these "special wipes". She handled them MUCH better when I used them on her too, so I think we are sticking with them.

We had a lovely Valentine's Day. Our celebration started the Saturday night before, at our church's Sweetheart Banquet. The adults were treated to a steak dinner and entertainment, while the children were treated to pizza and a movie, while being looked after by the youth. When we went to pick her up, I couldn't tell who had more fun - Neely or the teenagers! The kids went on and on about how good Neely was and how much they adore her. I love watching her mesmerize other people. I should have her wear a shirt that says, "I dare you not to fall in love with me". I kid you not. She has everyone of those teenage kids at church wrapped around her little finger. Then of course on the actual Valentines Day, Derek sent me roses, I got him a card with lots of chocolate goodies, and we got Neely a Disney princess heart shaped tin with heart shaped candies. Then we had dinner at church and spend the rest of the evening relaxing and watching tv. It was a good night.

RIP Fargo - You are missed and loved, and will never be forgotten.

#@!%*&*^!

I thought that would be a more appropriate title than what I really wanted to say, lol. In case you haven't already guessed, I am having a bad day. Let me tell you why. Since this year started, both Neely and I have been ill or afflicted with some type of ailment. First we had the sinus infection, then Neely had the "mystery virus", now I have a monster of a wisdom tooth attempting to break into my mouth what feels very much like in a sideways position, and Neely has a horrible rash on her hiney. It's awful. I am pretty sure I know what is causing it, and that would be her little accidents she has been having and not telling anyone for God knows how long, thus her tush breaks out. Last night was awful. All she wanted to do was lay down on her stomach so her bottom would not touch anything, thus causing it to hurt more. I did get her on some oral meds prescribed by her pediatrician's office, so hopefully it will be wiped out in a few days.

So please forgive me if this post isn't very pleasant. I feel like I a have a tiny Yosemite Sam in my head jumping up and down and ranting and raving, yelling his hard-to-understand expletives constantly, and I feel like he will be there until I get some relief from all of this madness, or I'll just completely blow up and have a complete meltdown, which sometimes feels really good, so maybe I'll do that sometime later today. Grrrrrrr.

We're Super!

Whew! You know how it feels when you have been sick for what seems like a million years (when, in fact, it was really just a week or so), then you get that one day where you still feel kinda bad but yet soooooo much better than you did the night before when you included in your prayers something about "dying just a little bit"? Well, for me, today is that day. Yes, I still have a sore throat, but it's on the mend. Yes, I'm still breathing through one nostril, but I can tell that I am close to clearing up. But what makes me feel the best? Knowing that the majority of my pain was caused by my lower left wisdom tooth coming in. Not that I am miraculously healed of my pain just because I finally have pinpointed my ailment, but I can take a pain reliever for it now instead of just Nyquil. So that is why I am feeling much better - I took some tylenol. LOL

Another reason to be happy - Neely is better too. She was always a few steps ahead of me in the recent healing process, on account of she came down with the crud much earlier than I did, but still, we are both on the mend. Definitely reason to be happy.

In other Neely news - we have become Superheroes. By day, we are Kelly and Neely, working mother and brilliant 3 year old pre-schooler. By night (and sometimes early morning, and a lot on the weekends), we become Super Mommy and Super Neely! Yes, we could use some help in the whole super name department, but cut us some slack, after all, we are only part-time superheroes. We usually rescue Derek and Belle, but sometimes we do rescue each other, mostly from the couch or the bed. She has a blast, and I catch myself enjoying it as well, for many reasons.

Why I Love Fridays

Another week has come and gone, and the sweet sound of the word Friday keeps going through my head. I long for Fridays, the way I get so excited about the weekend is almost worth the blah feeling I get when I wake up on Monday through Thursday mornings. The only thing that would make Fridays better, is if I didn't have to work on that day. When I am Queen of the World, that will be my first change, that businesses will close on Friday, except for those who provide any kind of service to me and my family, lol. That sounds fair, right?

I always looked forward to the weekend, even before Neely came along. But of course, I was excited for different reasons. Mainly to stay in bed on Saturday mornings until I was good and ready. Usually, our big thing was deciding what to do on Friday or Saturday nights. We felt that as a young couple, we just couldn't spend a weekend night at home, so we would get out and do anything we could think of - going out for a quick dinner, visiting parents or other family members, or calling up friends for a last minute get together. Of course, now, I look forward to the weekend for reasons that aren't close to my old ones. Sure, I would still love to sleep in on Saturday mornings, but when there is a certain 3 year old laying in her bed singing an original song, sweetly entertaining herself until Mommy comes to get her to start her fun day, it's really hard to go back to sleep. I love going in her room first thing on a Saturday morning. She lights up, and the fun day begins. Sundays are great too, but since we have to start getting ready for church almost right after we get up, Saturdays are definitely the favorite, considering that most of the time we have the whole day at our disposal.

This is usually how are weekends go - Friday evening, Derek's parents will come over. We always order out and then have dinner. Neely then entertains her grandparents, while we clean up after dinner. Occasionally, Derek and I will run out to take care of an errand or something and give them some alone time with her (this is something that everyone enjoys, lol). They usually leave around Neely's bedtime, then Derek and I will crash on the couch and watch tv, usually "The Soup" and "Best Week Ever". Saturdays are our weekly shopping days, with runs the to the grocery store, and to wherever else we need to go. This weekend, we will take Neely to get some new tennis shoes, she is really looking forward to that. In fact, she loves any kind of shopping (that's my girl!). No matter what we are going shopping for, as soon as she hears the word "shopping", she immediately asks, "where's my purse?" and we are out the door, which is why I have learned not to tell her what we are doing until we are ready to leave, because little miss gets impatient if you make her wait to do anything fun. Sundays are almost always the same - church, nap, playtime, dinner, sleep. We rarely go anywhere on Sunday unless it involves family, other than that, we don't do anything else.

So today, I will use my time at work wisely. I will spend the whole day planning out my weekend. I will make shopping lists, I will take my breaks to take care of the less exciting tasks that need to be taken care of this weekend. And if things go well, I will leave work early to go get my sweetheart from school and begin my weekend with a big hug.

Well, Neely is finally on the mend from what I'm calling "the mystery virus". At first I assumed it was a sinus infection, but then I start hearing other people talking about some "fever virus" that I have never heard of, and the symptoms are all of the ones that Neely has experienced at least once this week. The only thing that doesn't fit in that well is that her fever was mild, and went away after a dose of Motrin, unlike the other cases I heard about, where the fever lasted for several days. Whatever it is, she appears to be getting over it.

However, I'm the sick one now. Which means absolutely nothing, because any mother can tell you that moms don't get sick, at least of course to those who share a home with her. The show must go on. Dinner must be made. Laundry must be washed and put away. Children must be bathed. House must be kept tidy. And as crazy as this may seem, I insist on doing it all. That's because I'm a control freak. Derek, being the sweet soul that he is, does offer to take care of dinner when I'm ill, or he will offer to do various other things around the house in order to give me a break, but 99% of the time I will refuse. I know it sounds ridiculous, and it probably is a little, but you don't see me breaking out the tools and the JB Weld whenever one of the vehicles doesn't want to behave. Yeah, and the only time I've touched a lawnmower is when I helped Derek put it in the cart when we bought it. The fact is, everybody wants a job to do, no matter what it is, because it makes us feel needed, as well as appreciated. I can't tell you the feeling I get when Derek compliments me on a delicious meal (example: last night's enchiladas), or when a visitor goes on and on about how my house is always clean. Or the way Derek feel's when I tell him how good the yard looks after he spent all day mowing and trimming. It's a game of give and take, and I like it.

Okay, back to Neely. This kid cracks me up on a daily basis. Without going into too much explanation, I will say that we have been having issues with "accidents" involing not making it to the bathroom in time and several pairs of undies being ruined in process. Here lately, I have been trying to keep my eye on her to tell when she needs to be whisked off to the bathroom ASAP. The usual thing I do is put my hand on her bottom, as if to feel for anything through her pants, and ask her "Neely, did you poop?" Then after she tells me no, I will ask her if she needs to go, which will usually be followed by another no, then an hour later, we'll be in the bathroom cleaning up a bit of a mess. This morning, we were watching one of her kiddie shows, and some music was playing, so we got up and started doing our little silly dance, then out of no where, she puts her hand right under my crotch and asks, "Did you poop?", I had to ask again, on account of it took me by surprise, and then couldn't help but laugh at it, which after a few seconds, she joined me in the laughter.

I think we are doing pretty good with Neely. We surprise ourselves every day with how well she is turning out, and for those of you who know us well, you probably understand. :) She is very polite - she always says, "bless you" after someone sneezes, and the other day, as I let out a large yawn while we were talking and said, "excuse me" to her, she, in return said, "you're welcome". True, she doesn't always get it, but the fact that she is trying makes be feel very proud that my little girl is polite and courteous to others. At least while I'm around.

Antibiotics, Animals, and Awamen

Neely is suffering from yet another sinus infection, we learned last Friday. It is just no fun when your little one is ill and all you want to do is twitch your nose and POOF! they are all better again and can go outside and ride around in their new princess car they got for their birthday. We made that mistake last Thursday. The poor girl hadn't gotten to ride in it since her party (the 13th), and we had been waiting for a (semi) pleasant day to let her take it for a spin. So we come home from work early and go get her from school and bundle her up and hit the road. Well, more like the yard and the alley behind our house, but you know what I mean. She did have a blast, even though every few minutes she would stop and scoot over to the passenger side and insist that one of us drive (Derek took her up on the offer, too bad I don't have pictures of it, it was quite a sight!). She started coughing later that night, and now we are kicking ourselves hard, and all we did was let our little girl have fun with her birthday present. Oh well, there's always spring...

Anyways, the doctor put her on amoxicillan, which works very well for her, and she loves the bubble gum flavor. Well, this time, it was not bubble gum flavored, nor was it pink. I still have not determined what the flavor is, I think I'm close to settling on some sort of citrus, but not sure which one. So, now my perfect little medicine taker puts up a huge fight when she sees me coming with the bottle. Can't say I blame her, the stuff is nasty. She is being a champ through all of it though, and I am pretty sure she is on the mend.

Yesterday, I took Neely to the Livestock Show at the Agri-Center. Our main reason was to go visit with Derek, as he was working in the concession stand along with some members of our church. She was in awe of all of the animals, and she tried really hard to climb into one of the hog's pens. That child is not at all afraid of a 1200 pound bull snorting a few inches from her face. I guess she thinks they are all like Belle, our St. Bernard, because she kept sticking her hand out and telling them to "sniff her hand", just like I will do at home to show her that Belle loves her and she shouldn't be afraid of her.

Neely is learning a new blessing at Sunday School. It's to the tune of the nursery rhyme "Brother John". It goes like this:

God, Our Father
God, Our Father
Once Again, Once Again
We Will Ask The Blessing
We Will Ask The Blessing
Amen, Amen

We've gone over it a little with her, and it sounded really cute, but Monday night, while she was in the bathtub, I stepped around the corner to her room to get her pajamas, and I could hear her singing her blessing. It was too cute! Of course, she pronounces her "L" sounds kind of like "W"s, and I'm pretty sure she is saying "Farder" instead of Father, but that just makes it all cuter. The best part of it, though, has to be the end, when she says, "Awamen, Awamen". Yep, leave it to a southerner to add an entire syllable to a word!

January's (Almost) Over!!!

When January 1st rolled around, I knew what I had in store for me. Let me give you a rundown on what I have had going on this month: January 10th - Derek's birthday. January 13th - baby shower brunch and then Neely's birthday party. January 15th - Neely's actual birthday. January 20th - Derek's cousin's wedding. January 21st - my mom's birthday. Not to mention a major busy week at work right around the time of Derek's birthday, so there was no being able to leave early to plan something special for him, even if I had the energy from working my rear off all day. Oh, and Neely has been ill quite a lot this month, so there was 2 seperate doctor's appointments for that, in which I took off from work to take care of her when she was sick (I've taken three days off already! LOL), so my month has been just a little crazy. Even though this month was a test of my emotional and physical well being, I can't help but smile when I think of all of the birthdays I was able to celebrate, as well as the wedding we attended. It was all very lovely, but, I have made up my mind - from now on, I will boycott the entire month of January. :)

The Story of Us

A little backstory on how we came to be Neely's parents: Derek and I met in the fall of 1997 at college, where we were both members of the school's dance team. Even though we spent two hours a day in the same room together, we weren't exactly friends. In fact, we hardly spoke during the entire first semester of our freshman year. Then second semester came, and the dance team took a trip to Disney World. During our trip, Derek and I found ourselves seated next to each other during dinner one night. We started talking, then decided with a few other people to spend the rest of the evening checking out Epcot. A couple flirtatious days later, and we were a couple.

We were married on March 10, 2001, after 3 years and 2 weeks of dating. We had a beautiful wedding, and have been blissfully happy ever since. After almost two years of marriage, we decided we were ready to add to our little family. About four months after that, we found out that we were, in fact, pregnant with our first little miracle. After a heavenly and wonderfully uneventful pregnancy filled with happiness, adorable maternity clothes, and lots and lots of chocolate, Neely Katherine entered the world with a bang. My pregnancy ended on a tad of a scary note. I had come down with pre-eclampsia during the last few weeks of my pregnancy and after a week and half of bedrest, was induced at 37 weeks. During labor, my blood pressure skyrocketed, causing me to have seizures. I was given an emergency C-section and luckily, sweet Neely was never affected by it. I was unconscious for the first 19 hours of her life, but I made it out A-OK too. We had a bit of a long hospital stay, but when we finally came home, life with Neely started, and it has been the sweetest life I could ever ask for.

Welcome to my blog!

This blog was created for me to journalize my day to day activities as Neely's mom. Neely is a very energetic, happy, zany, bright eyed three year old. And she is my best friend. I really want to use this blog as a way to show people that, while my life might be rather ordinary and so like many others, I still like to talk about it, whether or not anyone listens (or reads, lol).

Neely was born on January 15, 2004, after a crazy and scary birth experience, and ever since she has been the light of our lives. We just celebrated her third birthday on the 13th of January, and I still can't believe our baby is growing up so fast. She had a blast, and got some pretty cool gifts. Oh, and today is January 24th, and she is still asking me if it is still her birthday. Here is a picture of her driving her new princess car we got her for her birthday. Along for the ride is her cousin, Emma Kate.