Welcome to the world, Thomas Max!

Congratulations Brenda and Jake, he's a keeper! (No, this isn't MY baby--my baby is supposed to be a girl, and she is still in for the long haul--this little cutie belongs to my baby sister and her husband.) He was born on Friday, and I think he looks just like his daddy!

(Yes this is my 3rd post of the day) Who has the BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD?

No offense, girls, but I DO!! I cannot begin to tell you all how proud I am of my husband. It has been an extremely stressful and trying time for Derrick the past couple of months, and he still has me thinking I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

Derrick has been working a minimum of 14-hour days (usually more like 18!) for the last few weeks, trying to get the restaurant running more efficiently (don't get me wrong--it's going well, but we want to bring it to the next level). Then his General Manager decided to leave, so Derrick has been having to add that work on top of everything. Being on his feet all day in such a fast-paced environment has been very wearing on Derrick, but I am so proud of him for sticking to it and getting things done. I have felt like no help since I'm so pregnant and have Cecily to take care of. But he hasn't made me feel like I have needed to be helping him, which I so appreciate, since I'm one of those people who feels extremely guilty if I don't feel like I'm doing my part.

Anyway, on Valentines day, Derrick left the house at 4:30am to take a guy from corporate to the airport. I had told Derrick that we were just going to bag Valentines Day this year so that he wouldn't feel any pressure to do anything for me. But look at what I woke up to Valentine's Day morning:


Isn't he the best? He even got Cecily a Valentine and this cute little outfit!


And what did I do for him? Oh, yeah, um....nothing. I swear. He is so lucky to have me.

Baby Shower!

Yes, I'm so spoiled! I'm pregnant with my second child (another girl) and I had a baby shower thrown for me. (I didn't feel too bad since I pretty much missed my baby shower when I was pregnant with Cecily because my water broke 1/2 hour into it)! I have to thank Ivy and Shar for putting together such a fun evening with our friends here in Farmington. One of the fun things we did was everyone gave me a "picture" of my baby and named it. They created the "picture" from images found in magazines. I got such a kick out of this. Hopefully these pictures show up well enough for you to see how funny they turned out.
Look at all of these fun baby gifts I received. I am always so blown away by how generous people are. (But I agree, how can you not have fun buying baby girl things??!!!?)

LOVE TAG

Tiffany tagged me with this one...

What is your husband's name? Derrick Ryan Tornow

How long have you been together? Together...5 years 3 months. Married...4 1/2 years.

How long did you date? We met the day after Thanksgiving in 2002 and were married on September 5, 2003. So almost a year, but I knew I'd marry him the night we met (NO, I didn't tell HIM that!)

Who eats more? Well, we obviously BOTH eat too much! If we actually had a competition, it would be close! The first time we went to dinner with his parents, Derrick made the comment, "Oh, this girl can eat!" I'm not quite sure if I should take that as a compliment or not!

Who said I love you first? Honestly, I can't remember the answer to this. I'm not one to blurt out that I love someone before they have told me they love me, but I just always remember loving him.

Who is taller? Derrick. What are the odds of me finding someone shorter to marry?

Who has more speeding tickets? Derrick. Although, we've both had our fare share.

Who is smarter? Depends on the subject, I guess! Derrick likes to surprise me with strange facts he happens to know about.

Who is more sensitive? DEFINITELY ME! Derrick didn't grow up with sisters. His poor mom! But this doesn't mean he isn't sweet!

When there is a fight, who usually wins? DEFINITELY DERRICK! He has this irritating way of using his strength to make me stay around him when I'm mad at him, until I finally laugh. But I'M ALWAYS RIGHT! :)

Who does the laundry? Me.

Who does the dishes? Normally, me. But if I ever ask Derrick to help, he jumps right to it.

Who sleeps on the right? Depends on where the bed is. I have to be closest to the door.

Who pays the bills? Are you kidding? Of course I do! Poor Derrick...I could be tucking away our money into secret accounts and he wouldn't know it!

Who mows the lawn? Derrick. Well, at least he did when we had a lawn. I miss green yards.

Who cooks dinner? We both like to cook, but I try to have dinner ready when he comes home from work. Okay, who am I kidding? Derrick's lucky if I cook twice a week. Although we do like to cook, we eat a lot of sandwiches and cold cereal, especially since Derrick's schedule has been so crazy since we opened the restaurant.

Who drives when you are together? Derrick HATES my driving. It drives him nuts!

Who is more stubborn? I was going to say Derrick, but I'm not quite sure now that I get to thinking of it. I think it might be me!

Who kissed whom first? Uh...Derrick TOTALLY attacked me!

Who asked who out first? Derrick asked me out.

Who proposed? Derrick did. At the top of the Empire State Building (that's a tall building).

Who has more siblings? Me. Derrick has 3 brothers, and I have 5 sisters, 3 brothers.

Alright ladies, I tag: Karin, Renee, Natalie, Megan B., and Brooke (but I'd love to see EVERYONE'S answers, so if you feel so inclined...)

DE...LICIOUS!!!

Just a quick, funny story about Cecily (at least her mom thought it was cute---but maybe you had to be there!)

The other day I had a magazine that had a photo of a cake on the cover. So I decided to practice Cecily's vocabulary with her:

Mom: "Cecily, what is this?"
Cecily: "Cake"
Then she adds, "YUMMY Cake"
Then, with excitement, "DELICIOUS!!!"

And then she finishes it off with the most exaggerated slurping noise, as if she is totally salivating at the mouth!

This kid just cracks me up!At the Children's Museum here in Farmington.

I guess she figured this spot was as good as her bed!

SHARE....

I was just sitting here thinking about some of the things I need to do soon...hopefully before the baby comes. I'd love your opinion or any help you can give me on some of these (mostly pretty stupid) items!

1. I have the ugliest woodpecker living on my back deck. It poops all over and is disgusting. How do I get rid of it? I throw ice cubes at it (no, bird-lovers, I don't hit it---like I even have the right aim anyway!), but it still comes back.

2. I need to purchase a double stroller. I'd like something that is not too bulky, yet provides a place to store my "stuff." I'd also like something that I can take the kids walking in. So it needs to be durable and smooth-riding. Have you had luck with your strollers? Heard of a good one?

3. I'm turning into an insomniac. Probably because I am so HUGE and can't get comfortable enough to sleep for long, and wake up choking from the rotten heart burn I have anyway. So I am tired all the time, am grouchy as all heck, and can't seem to accomplish much of anything. Anybody else feel this way when you were pregnant? Any advice? Oh, and if you see my husband, you might want to tell him that I love him.

4. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to keep my house clean. It's not absolutely disgusting, but we are having clutter issues. I am so tired of cleaning the same things over and over. Derrick and I got into a nice groove at the beginning of the year. We would take a few minutes to pick up the house at night so that we would wake up with a clean house in the morning. This was great, because I could concentrate more on playing and teaching things to Cecily during the day instead of worrying about the house. But things have been crazy busy for Derrick the last month or so, and he totally crashes when he gets home, so I don't have a helper anymore (and I miss him for more reasons than that)! What do you do to motivate yourself to clean the house?

5. I used to be so good about leaving little notes and things like that to show Derrick that I love him, but I'm ready for some new ideas. So since the Valentine's "season" is here, let's hear what you do to show your love to your spouse (or significant other).