Can I Brag A Bit?

This is a post dedicated to my wonderful husband. I have a few things to update everyone on that has been going on with my hubby!

The number one thing I need to update everyone on is the status of his CPA Exam. A couple of weeks ago he finally got a letter regarding both parts of the CPA Exam he had not heard back from. It was good and bad news. The good news is that he did pass the part he took back in May. The bad news is that he did not pass the part he took back in April. Yes, people he did not hear anything until JULY! So ridiculous because he could have already been studying again to re-take the one he did not pass! And the sad thing is they have off months in the fall so he only has a small window to prepare to re-take this part of the exam. Please be thinking about him these next few months in your prayers to help him prepare to re-take the exam and pass this time so he can get this huge accomplishment under his belt.

Moving on to the second update. My husband works very hard at his job. He has so many responsibilities at work and I do not know how he can keep up with it all and be home every night by 6:00 for us to eat dinner together as a family and then take care of Mary-Ross to give me a "break". But, he manages to get all of it done and still be a great husband and father.

Side note: Lemak Sports Medicine is affiliated with Trinity Hospital so therefore Justin works very closely with all of the people at Trinity. Dr. Lemak's practice and all the smaller practices that are associated with Lemak Sports Medicine the most successful, largest, and highest grossing medical practice CHS (CHS is the company that owns Trinity Hospital) is affiliated with. Justin is the CFO of The Lemak Group and Companies, LLC. which manages Dr. Lemak's practice and all of the smaller practices affiliated with Lemak Sports Medicine.

That all being said above leads to the update! :) Since Justin does work so hard and is the CFO of The Lemak Group and Companies, LLC. the CEO and CFO of Trinity Hospital and Matthew Lemak (CEO of The Lemak Group and Companies, LLC.) took notice. So they decided to nominate him for CFO of the year in the $25-50 million dollar category in the Birmingham Business Journal, which is a magazine here in Birmingham. Justin was notified he had been nominated and then was notified he made the cut to the final five. Since he made it to the final five he will be interviewed by the BBJ and featured in the magazine. The ceremony to announce the winner of each category will be held on August 23rd. If Justin wins this honor it will not only be another accomplishment he can add to his list but it will also make his company look great and give them free advertisement which will benefit everyone including our family. I am so proud of Justin for even being nominated much less making the final five in his category. I can not wait for the ceremony in August to see if he wins. Either way I will still be proud of him. I will definitely update the blog once his interview in published in the BBJ and once we find out the results. Stay tuned folks!

Here is the link showing the results of all the finalists:
http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/blog/2011/07/bbj-reveals-cfo-award-finalists.html

Happy 2 months Mary-Ross

Happy 2 months Mary-Ross

Our baby is just a growing and growing. She is officially 2 months old today. It is very true when people tell you it flies by. We are going to her 2 month check-up next week and I can not wait to see how much she has grown since her last visit. It has not been an easy breezy past 2 months but things have gotten better and better. We starting her sleeping in her crib Sunday night and she did good the first night but last night was not a good night at all. So we are hoping 3 times the charm! Fingers crossed! She is getting more and more of a personality everyday. She has started cooing and "talking" to you a lot lately. She definitely has her father's temper it is safe to say. Ha ha. She has the best smile and it lights up the room when she flashes it. She even has started this little laugh when she thinks something is funny. We have decided that she is going to be very ticklish because we will tickle her sides and she already tense up like it is a tickle spot. It is so funny.

Likes:
Bath time is her favorite thing in the world
Her car seat and car rides
Looking at herself in a mirror (She gets this from Justin no doubt, I'm being dead serious)
Eating time
Daddy sticking his tongue out at me
Mommy holding me

Dislikes:
Getting out of the tub
SLEEP

More updates to come after we go to her Doctor's appointment next week. She will be getting her first series of shots! :( I'm sure she will pitch a fit!

Until next time....

Our First Rolling Beach Trip as 3!!

Our first official beach trip with Mary-Ross was a success! My mom, Mary-Ross, & I left on Sunday to kick off the Rolling beach trip! Justin had to stay behind until Tuesday due to work reasons! The trip started off perfect! Our little one was an angel the entire car ride down to Rosemary Beach. She slept the whole time except for when she woke up to eat and then went right back to sleep again! We are so thankful she is a good car rider, at least so far she has been. After we arrived to Rosemary we did encounter a few problems but we did get our issues fixed rather quickly and even received a gift basket for our troubles! How sweet! Ha ha. I had already warned the guy working the desk at the rental company that if they did not get our issues figured out before my husband arrived on Tuesday that they would be hearing from him and that it would not be pretty. I think he thought I was joking but unfortunately Justin decided to go ahead and call them and give them a piece of his mind. So the poor guy got yelled at anyways. Maybe he will take people more seriously now when the woman warns him of her angry husband. Ha ha. But, besides that everything else was great. 

If you have never been to Rosemary Beach I recommend going! It is very family oriented! It is perfect if you have children. Families with children are everywhere. I would not recommend this place to a couple without children or a couple who does not like children since they are all over the place all the time. Also, if you hate bikes never ever step foot in Rosemary. Bikes and children are everywhere at all times!! I myself as most know love children but I am not very fond of people on bikes. It brings up angry memories of the times I have gotten stuck behind bikers here in Birmingham. The only reason I am OK with the bike riders at Rosemary is because you do not have to get into your car much so really the bikers are only aggravating when you are trying to walk/run on the sidewalk and they are riding there bikes entirely too fast on a sidewalk. Yes, I did almost get taken out a few times by a person on a bike so this is why I am bitter about it! Rosemary is a very safe and friendly place. We met lots of nice people while we were there. I do not know what it is but when you have a baby people automatically assume you want them to come over and talk to you. Luckily, I enjoy meeting new people and talking to them so that is a plus for them. So take this as a warning if you are not a people person and you decide to have a baby you may want to work on your social skills during those nine months because whether you like it or not people are coming to talk to you and want to look at your baby!!! :) Now that I addressed that I will get back to our vacation. 

Mom & I took Mary-Ross out on the beach on Monday and Tuesday. I know people think we are crazy but like I said Rosemary is covered with children of all ages so we were not the only cuckoo's on the beach! We did only take her out for an hour or two each day before it got too hot. She was really good the whole time. She slept or looked around and then ate and would sleep again until time to go back up to the house. On Wednesday we all went out to the beach together and she was good again. But when I was changing her diaper that day she decided to grab a handful of sand while I was not looking and some how got it all over her stomach and even in her diaper! It was so funny and a big mess! It was time for her to go back inside anyways so my mom took her back to the house and gave her a bath. It got really hot by Thursday so she did not go out to the beach after Wednesday. Justin and I could barely stand it on Thursday it was so miserably hot. Justin's parents came down on Friday afternoon and stayed Friday night with us. Then Saturday we packed everything up and headed back home. We were all ready to be back home. 

We ate lots of good seafood while we were there. I have been trying to broaden my horizons when it comes to food since I am trying to lose weight. It's not easy loosing weight when the only meat I ever eat is chicken and beef. I know this might come as a shock to some but I actually started getting tired of chicken since I have only been eating it because beef is so fattening. So I decided the week before we went to the beach that I needed to stop hating fish and give it a fair chance. I took the opportunity of being at the beach and having access to fresh fish to give it a go! I have to say that I actually enjoyed picking out something new every night to try. The first night mom and I went to the Old Florida Fish House and I got the grouper sauteed and it was excellent. Justin and I went to a place called Paradis in Rosemary and I ate Cobia which again was delicious. We then went back to the Old Florida Fish House with Justin's parents and I decided to get the special which was Red Snapper blackened and again I liked it. So it is official, I am a fish eater now! Yay for me! I am so glad that now when we go to seafood restaurants I can order something besides shrimp or crab cakes! 

So overall our first beach trip as 3 was wonderful and we are so happy we will continue to keep this tradition going. We will return next year and have even more fun since Mary-Ross will actually get to enjoy the beach and the water! 

Sun bathing

Knocked out cuddled up to her sleep sheep

Hanging out with Daddy in the bed

Until next time.......

What we have been up to lately...

So it has been a long time since my last post. I started a draft a few weeks back but never finished it so I am starting fresh again. So let's see, things have been busy busy since we brought our little one home from the hospital. It has gone by so fast and I can not believe she will be 7 weeks on Thursday! It's nuts people! Our little angel has been going through a little rough patch but we are getting through it! We finally solved her feeding problem so things have been better since then. Now if we can just get better at taking naps during the day, sleeping in our crib, and sleeping through the night all of our dreams would come true! Haha. I know we will get there but it is hard sometimes to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have a very hungry baby on our hands! She is eating 6 ounces now and sometimes wants more. I'm not exactly sure how much she weighs right now but I am definitely thinking at least 9 lbs. maybe more. Our next Doctor's visit is not until August so we will have to wait until then to know for sure.

Here are some of my favorite pictures I have taken in the past few weeks.

Happy One Month to me!

I LOVE sleeping with my hands close to me face.  :)

My first time at the pool. I'm making a silly face for the camera.

Holding on tight to Miss Piggy, MR's favorite.

Enjoying a warm bath. My absolute favorite thing to do!!

These pictures are just a few of my favorites I have taken of her lately. She is growing so fast! She is really starting to chunk up now. 

We have a lot of exciting things starting this weekend! Ashlyn Kay is turning 3 on Friday! I can not believe she is already 3! She is such a big girl now and is pure entertainment. It is never a dull moment when AK is around. We have her birthday party on Saturday. She is a having a pool party and it is Dora the Explorer themed. She has literally been planning and talking about her birthday since January and she is beside herself that it is finally here. It is so funny to hear her talk about it. Then on Sunday Mom, Mary-Ross and I are packing up and heading to Rosemary Beach for our very first Rolling family vacation as a family of three! Since Justin has to work he is not going to be able to come down until Tuesday sometime. So it will just be the girls for a couple of days! I can not wait to take Mary-Ross to be the beach and get some great pictures. I am sure it will be an adventure! We are staying for a week so I am already trying to start packing all of her stuff up. Babies require so much stuff! Let's just hope it will all fit in my Yukon. Lot of fun times ahead so stay tuned for some pictures! 

Until next time....