Let Freedom Ring

We are in to EVERYTHING these days!!!

I made it through my first work meeting without Maggie!! For the record...Brian passed with flying with colors. I will feel confident leaving Maggie with him anytime!!! He did great!! I think they really bonded!

Maggie was a good little helper when I was packing for NYC. She liked to take everything out of the suitcase as I was putting it in.

HELP!!! Get me out of my cage!!!

We had a great weekend! I got home late Thursday night but did not have to work on Friday. I spent a much needed day relaxing just loving on Maggie!! Saturday we had my family over to cookout.

Church on Sunday!!

Sunday night we went to the Stars and Stripes event downtown for the 4th! It was a great turnout with an awesome blues band and we had a great time!!

And today we went to Uncle Eric and Aunt Lisa's house to eat hamburgers and homemade ice cream! Maggie enjoyed her first taste of ice cream!!

Guest Blogger!!

Hi! My name is Sadie Suzanne Roberts Moore. I used to be the boss of the house, but lately, this is where I spend most of my time. On the outside looking in. See...things have changed a lot since my little sister Maggie came into this world. I'm ok with it, bc I love Maggie very much. But I sure do miss being the queen bee. I miss sleeping on the bed with my mommy and daddy. I miss being inside most of the day, and sleeping on the couch whenever I wanted to.

But when I am inside, this is where you will find me when Maggie is sleeping. I like to make sure she is protected at all times.

And we spend many hours a day looking out the window together.

And I let her practice pulling up on me. Sometimes she pulls my ears or my tail and it doesn't feel very good, but I still let her do it bc I love her! After all, she IS my little sister and my best friend.

This week I gave my parents quite the scare. I quit eating for 4 days and starting throwing up. They took me to the vet, and the vet ran all kinds of tests and xrays and determined I had swallowed something about 3 inches by 2 inches and the vet couldn't figure out what it was. I will NEVER tell what I got into, but whatever it was it gave me quite the upset tummy. The vet was recommending exploratory stomach surgery to see what the object was that I swallowed, and to remove it. However, I spent the night at the vets office and they gave me some nausea medicine amongst other things, and now my stomach is feeling back to normal again, so we didn't have to do the surgery! I know my mommy and daddy were happy about that. Whatever I swallowed is probably still in my stomach, but it isn't bothering me anymore!!

It's nice to meet everyone! Maybe I will blog again soon.

Fathers Day

So I really meant to post on Father's Day but we have had a lot going on around here. I am studying for a new product for overactive bladder in preparation for a 3 day meeting next week in NYC. Yes, I have to leave Maggie again and Brian will be holding the fort down this time. Maggie had her ENT check up this morning, and everything looks great! He even let me and my mom look at the tubes through his ear thing(not sure what it is called). We could see the inside of her eardrum and the tubes were bright blue. It was crazy!

Needless to say, I wanted to post on Father's Day about Maggie's father!! I don't post a lot about Brian on here, mainly bc he really takes no part in my blog and doesn't read it very often, which is another blog in itself. He isn't much of a facebook or email guy, so you can see blogging would really be a stretch. He reads them when I tell him to though!!

Brian is the best daddy in the world. He is playful, loving, encouraging and so very patient. He is such a hard worker, and I don't think I have ever heard him complain a day in his life. He would work 20 hour days and weekends and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't complain. He is a God fearing man, and the spiritual leader of this family. He would give the shirt off his back for anyone, and loves to help others out. In fact, he is quite the helper around the house also!! He is a diaper changing, middle of the night waking, bottle feeding, bath giving daddy just to name a few!!! Brian wanted a boy so bad when we first found out we were pregnant. If you go back and look at my first few blogs, I also thought we were having a boy. But now...Brian says he wants 3 girls. Maggie has totally stolen his heart!!! She will get anything she wants out of him...I'm sure of it! There is a very special bond between a daughter and her daddy, and I can't wait for Maggie to grow up and LOVE Brian the way that I LOVE my daddy.

Happy Father's Day Brian! I couldn't have picked a more perfect father for our precious Maggie!!

And Happy Father's Day to my Dad, who I think is perfect as well!!

Food Travels

Brian and I had a fabulous time in Memphis and St. Louis. We started off the trip with some shopping in Memphis. I got Maggie lots of cute outfits from Macy's. Oh how I miss Macy's!!! I was so excited to do some shopping for myself, having lost most of the baby weight, however, it is WAY more fun to shop for Maggie, so I did that instead. That night we had a drink at the Corner Bar, so we could see Vanessa. Little did I know it would be the last time I saw her before she was engaged!!!

Then we had a sushi appetizer at Blue Fin, our favorite sushi restaurant of all time! And later that evening we had dinner at Mesquite Chop House, probably our all time favorite restaurant in Memphis. There are 2 very good reason we love this restaurant...

the blue cheese stuffed fillet

and the carrot cake. not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 layers of carrot cake with cream cheese icing. now that's just showing off.

We spent the night at the Madison hotel where we got engaged on the rooftop, and reminisced all night about the dates we used to take in Memphis, the engagement night, living downtown, etc. It was so fun and a much needed get away for just us two! That morning we met his sister Kelli and her husband Dean and drove to St. Louis for Dave that night!! The concert was fabulous, and we had a great time!! We always have a good time with anything that we do with Kelli and Dean though!! The drive home Thursday was long and tiring, and I was about to have a panic attack to see Maggie, but we made it and I have her back in my arms tightly!!!

By the way...she did fabulous at YaYa and Pop's house(my parents). I don't think they wanted her to leave. She has become a little cuddle bunny and loves to hug and kiss.

Lots of pics of Maggie to come in my next blog!

Dave Matthews or Bust

Well the tubes went great! It was 6 minutes and 52 seconds from the time they took her to the time they came and got me. She was so out of it in recovery, and that was the worst part, but it only lasted about 15 minutes. She was crying and couldn't open her eyes and it was just so sad. She slept alot that day, and was kind of fussy and running a low grade fever for the last few days. But today was a new day! She has been in the best mood and talking and playing up a storm. She has learned her B's now so everything is baaaa baaaa or buuuu buuu. She also learned a new word over the weekend...MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well she says it more like maaaaaaaaaa maaaaaaaaaa, and she only says it when she is tired or upset, but that's perfectly fine with me!!

a very nervous mommy and daddy before the tubes

my sweet baby buggy on the way home from her surgery. she was SO tired.

We had a very busy weekend. It was my 10 year reunion. I feel old just saying that. It was truly a blast and so wonderful to see and visit with old friends. Our grade was so close growing up, so it was like a day hadn't even passed. I love our class!!

Remember me blogging in February about how Brian gave me tickets to Dave in St. Louis. Well we are leaving tomorrow for our little 3 day getaway and I cannot wait! I am very sad to leave Maggie but trying not to think about it. Brian and I need some "date" time so it will be alot of fun!! And I LOVE a good road trip...especially when it involves music!!!!!

Tubes It Is

Well please say a prayer for my little buggy tomorrow morning. She is getting tubes bright and early. I have been avoiding thinking about it, so I have not blogged about it yet. I am so very very nervous, but I look forward to the end result. I can't wait to have my baby feeling so much better and able to hear again!!

look at my size 2 big feet

being a good girl at the dinner table. she has to have all her teething things

big thanks to amanda for all the goodies we have borrowed!! this being one of them...

still drooling everywhere

Mom, can you read me a book?

Oh no, I can't get the book out!!!!

Some things I absolutely positively LOVE about Maggie...well I love EVERYTHING about Maggie but these are a few of my favorite things...

1- her baby scent that never goes away

2- the way her face lights up when I pick her up from daycare

3- her messed up sweaty hair when she wakes up from a nap

4- her determination in everything she is attempting to do

5- the way she opens up and says AHHH as I bring the spoon to her mouth

6- the way she puts her head on my shoulder like a baby when she doesn't feel good

7- rocking her to sleep (cheek to cheek)

8- her thighs, I think I kiss them 100 times a day

9- the way she smiles and holds her arms out when Brian gets home from work

10- her ticklish spots, I torture her often with them

Next time I blog I will hopefully have a baby with no ear infections, no fluid, no pain, and no high fevers. I can't wait to have my little baby bug back to normal.

Pool Dipping and Shish Kabobs

Well remember I told you we were going to have a very relaxing weekend? Well nothing says relaxing about a 7 month old with a continuing ear infection that WILL not go away! Needless to say...Brian and I are running on VERY little sleep from the weekend. And poor Mags, her little ears just won't get better.

This is how she chillaxes in the morning watching her Einstein shows...

Saturday we went out to my parents house for some fun in the sun. This was Maggie's first dip in the pool. She was pretty indifferent about it. I thought she would splash around and have a great time, like she does in the bathtub, but she just wasn't feeling too well I guess.

Of course, Memorial Day it rained all day so we couldn't do all the yardwork we had planned on doing. However, we made some delicious Shish Kabobs that night out of Country Living Magazine. This recipe is definitely worth sharing.

Marinated Steak Kebabs

1 cup red wine

1/2 cup peanut oil

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 Tb. chopped fresh parsley

2 Tb. dry mustard

salt and pepper to taste

1 lb. filet or beef tenderloin

2 yellow bell peppers

1 red onion

8 cherry tomatoes

1 pack button mushrooms

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together first 7 ingredients for marinade. Cut vegetables & meat in bite size pieces and marinate in the first mixture for 3-4 hours in the refrigerator.

2. Heat grill to high. Alternately thread meat and veggies on metal skewers.

3. Cook for 6 minutes for medium rare, 8 min for medium. Turning and basting with more marinade half way through.

Enjoy!!

P.S. I typed this blog on Tuesday but just now remembered to post!!