Baby Dickey » Em&Steve

Happy anniversary!

babydickey — Thu, 19 May 2011 00:27:39 +0000

I don’t know if I’ve ever written about how Steve and I met. We were in our junior year of high school, but we went to different schools. We went to the same youth group every Wednesday night, each with our own group of friends. One day, I get an email from him… he told me that I was beautiful and he wanted to get to know me. Then at the end he put “PS. cute feet.”

I had NO IDEA who he was. Steve? Steve who?! We didn’t start dating for another 9 months, at least.

And now here we are

Yesterday, May 17th, was our 3-year wedding anniversary! Wow, time flies. We have been together though for… 8.5 years… so I guess 3 doesn’t seem like that long, haha. I was surprised by a delivery of some beautiful flowers, a balloon, and Fannie May chocolates (yummmmmmmmmmm).

I made Steve one of our favorites for dinner: white pizza. It’s sooo good, recipe to come soon! And we had some champagne and dessert (brownies with cookie dough ice cream).

(before going in the oven!)

You can’t get too eventful on a Tuesday, especially with a toddler at home. So we’re REALLY celebrating this weekend. We’ll be leaving Saturday morning for Shannon, IL (i.e. Middle Of Nowhere, IL) where I found a nice little cabin by googling around. It’s called Hickory Hideaway. There’s a winery nearby so we’ll be going there first before spending the rest of the day (and night) in peace… in the middle of nowhere… in our cabin with a jacuzzi And no, Ryan won’t be joining us, he’ll be staying with my parents for the night!

Happy Anniversary, Baby! Love you!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

babydickey — Sun, 08 May 2011 12:00:24 +0000

Dear Mom,

Happy Mother’s Day! There are so many things that make so much more sense to me now that I’m a mom. There’s so much more I appreciate about you and the things you’ve taught me. Thank you for being a wonderful mom and for always being there for me and for making me the person I am today.

Thank you for the traditions I get to pass on to Ryan–the hot and cold game, kindergarten lunch, family night, awesome themed parties and homemade halloween costumes, Christmas cookies and chocolate, catching lightning bugs, telling stories about the big hole in the woods, and so many more.

Thank you teaching me to stand up for what I believe in–I grew up watching you speak your mind (even if you turned the other way after your point was made, hahaha). I’m strong and confident and independent because of you.

Thank you for being my best friend, I don’t know what I’d do without you! There are still many moments that make me think, “I need my mom!” and you’re the first person I call.

Thank you for teaching me to be a great mom, I hope to be just like you (and now you have it in writing! ha). And Ryan thanks you, too, for being a wonderful grandma!

Happy Mother’s Day, My Mama

Love,
Your baby

I need a new Caribbean island.

babydickey — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:14 +0000

When I met Steve, he HATED flying. Just like he hated roller coasters and anything else adventurous. How did we end up together, again?! That’s the complete opposite of me: adventure defined by a mom.

So when we got engaged and started discussing honeymoon plans, let’s just say he was NOT happy about my idea to go to the Caribbean. I, however, won that argument, and off we went to St. Lucia!

Sooo, I’d like to take credit for Steve’s new love of travel and adventure He’s always talking about where we should go next and doesn’t even flinch at a plane ride. He even went zip-lining through the rainforest in St. Lucia!

With Steve’s new job, he gets a week of vacation a year to start. Not that we plan on going somewhere any time SOON, but can’t stop a girl from dreaming So, where should we go next?!

We LOVED St. Lucia so it’d be awesome to go back there, but we feel like we should expand our horizons and pick a new place. Anyone have a place to recommend? The reason we loved St. Lucia so much, I think, was because of where we stayed–a Sandals resort.

I remember when we were in the beginning planning stages I was like — we are NOT going to a Sandals! — because I hated the commercialized idea of it. But we chose it because, well, they’re everywhere, and because they’re all-inclusive. BEST THING EVER. Seriously. I don’t think we’ll ever go somewhere again (out of the US) that isn’t all-inclusive. There were tons of restaurants to choose from and we never had to worry about how much we were spending on dinner or drinks–it resulted in way less stress.

omgosh, I’m drooling by looking at my photo album again. Is it even summer yet?!

I know you can find some all inclusive holiday packages too–that can include flights or car rentals–and include entertainment or activities at the resort. We got free shuttle between all Sandals on the island, free water sports, free games–Steve even entered a darts competition, haha. He lost, but it was fun! I remember they had a huge sign of alllll these random mixed drinks and we had a goal of trying one of each during our trip. We didn’t make it, haha.

Have you stayed at an all-inclusive? Have you been to any of the Caribbean islands (or somewhere else amazing)? We’re open to suggestions!! I’ve heard Antigua or St. Kitts??

How Baby Dickey (And Family) Takes Care Of Money!

babydickey — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:24:19 +0000

April is the unofficial financial literacy month here in the United States and even mommy bloggers can participate. While I am in no way claiming that I’m some kind of financial expert, what I will say is that we do a pretty damn good job of taking care of our money and we’re proud of our conservative approach! After we graduated from college we started listening to a famous financial radio talk show about wealth building (well Steve did at first but now he makes me and I love it!). What we decided to do was build up an emergency fun first, then pay off all of our debt (credit cards, student loans, car loans, etc) and start saving for other things last.

I want to discuss exactly what we did and why in what we’ll call Baby Dickey’s steps to financial something or another…

Step 1: Build up an emergency fund: the rule of thumb is to have a six month emergency fund. This means that should you suddenly be earning no income, you have enough cash that you can survive for six months without having to cancel any bills or making any serious changes. Steve and I took a more conservative approach and have a nine month emergency fund.

Step 2: Pay off all debt. When we graduated our debt was about 70% of one year of income for us, which wasn’t bad at all considering the debt load that some people/families have after college. Once our emergency fund was in place, we were able to pay off our debt in 13 months by putting every non-expense penny towards paying off our debt. One cool thing about paying off the debt is that once the debt is payed off, there is now less money required in the emergency fund because we no longer have those monthly credit card or student loan payments.

Step 3: Everything else! I, of course, wanted to buy a house right away, but Steve has been honestly changed by what happened with the economy in the last few years. What made him that way was the fact that he has a Civil Engineering Degree, still hasn’t found a job in the field and the construction market in the U.S. still probably won’t recover for years. After a lot of consideration we decided that we don’t ever want to be at risk of losing our home and want to put down at least 50% towards a down payment on a house. When you consider the amount of money you’re paying towards taxes on your home, you actually don’t benefit from owning a home until years after your mortgage is paid off.

Drive a car that you can afford. While I would love to be driving a BMW or a new sports car, our 1999 Buick Regal and 2003 Pontiac Bonneville are just great for us. We own both of them and didn’t pay one penny in interest for them!

One big plunge that Steve and I made was to have a joint checking account. Even though it’s frustrating at times to argue about money, this is a great way to increase communication between us and bring us closer together. It’s not all arguing though…we have an equal amount of money that we transfer to our private checking account each month that is “no questions asked” money. Anything over that we disclose to each other and let the arguing begin!

One more thing is to take advantage of any and all tax breaks possible. You are going to pay a TON of money in taxes your whole life so make sure that you know what you’re doing and keep every penny that is rightfully yours. A little research can go a long way!

Was this a good post about financial literacy? I was trying! I just wanted to post about what works for us as we would be going through a tough time (Steve lost his job a month ago), but our emergency fund has kept our lifestyle the exact same. I’m making no claims that this will work for you, but I am hoping that I will hear from you about what works for you.

Family vacations?

babydickey — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:29:30 +0000

Growing up, we took a family vacation every summer. When we were younger, it was to a cabin in Wisconsin… fishing, hiking, relaxing. Of course there were a couple trips to Disney World and as we got older, we traveled farther away: Canada, Norway, Bahamas, Aruba. No matter where we were, we went as a family and planned fun activities to do together.

Steve and I have daydreamed about where we’ll take Ryan. What do we want him to see? Ya know, besides EVERYTHING! And at what age should we start? I mean, we can take little family trips now, but I’m talking about a trip to Disney World or the mountains or the beach–when will it be special for Ryan?

NORWAY

This summer Steve and I were planning a trip to the Caribbean, but then he lost his job and we figured it wouldn’t be very responsible of us if we still went! But we definitely still plan on doing something! I bought a groupon awhile back for a night at a nice hotel in Lake Geneva, WI. It’s only about an hour from us and we went there late last year.… love that place! So we’ll be using that for sure, at least. We didn’t take Ryan with last time–we had “adult” fun, ya know, renting a scoot coupe and driving around town for a couple hours, hahaha. But when the weather gets warmer, it’d be fun to take Ryan with and do some activities on the lake! Is it Spring yet?!?!

We have family all over, too.. Minnesota, Arizona, Wisconsin, Washington (and Norway!!)… so those are other ideas! Okay, the Norway one is more of a wish… but someday!

What family holidays do you remember taking as a kid?? Where are your favorite places to vacation now? And what age do you think is a good age to start with little ones?

*disclosure: sponsored text link, but all dreams and wishes are my own!

So... my husband lost his job

babydickey — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 14:00:04 +0000

Last week on Tuesday, February 8th, I was sitting at my desk when I heard the front door open. Steve wasn’t supposed to be home from work for hours so my jaw was dropped before I even heard the news.

“I was sent home. I think I just lost my job.”

To say we were shocked is an understatement. There wasn’t even the slightest bit of a clue that this was going to happen.

So here we are… I work part-time and we have savings… Steve’s searching for a new job. We’ll be okay for awhile and we’re adjusting as best we can, but it’s certainly a change–even in just the last week–to watch every dollar and every bill and every expense just to be safe. With the job loss, we also lost our health insurance. We’re shopping around for private health insurance because that’s a must–and we’ll have that soon, thankfully.

But on a much more positive note?

~Steve is home a lot more (as in… every day) to spend time with Ryan. We no longer need a babysitter when I go to work.
~Steve is home a lot more to spend time with me!
~This has been a kick in the butt to finally get moving with some plans we’ve had for awhile
~I have a housekeeper, nanny and business manager! Haha… really, though. He told me not to lift a finger in this house while he’s out of work and has been amazing with dishes, laundry, cleaning.… and amazing with Ryan–letting me sleep in once in awhile, changing the diapers… oh, he also has me on a blogging schedule and has been doing a lot of research on social media/PR/SEO, etc. I couldn’t have hired a better helper!

I love love love having him home. I love getting out of the house and working part time and having Steve at home. If only it could stay this way forever.

But we all know money runs the world and it’d be best for us if Steve found another job asap. Wish us luck! And if you work at a civil/environmental engineering company and want an awesome dude to join your team, you know where to find him

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

babydickey — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 04:47:38 +0000

Someone must have taught my husband that long ago. He completely surprised me this Valentine’s Day with an unbelievably gorgeous diamond necklace.

The pictures don’t even do it justice. Obviously purchased before he lost his job (the morning of, actually!) <–oops, that post is coming tomorrow (surprise?), it made me a little sick to my stomach to think about, but it’s beautiful and I adore it (and my hubby)!

We celebrated early, the Saturday before Valentine’s Day. Ryan spent the night with his grandma and grandpa and we stayed in to watch a movie and eat some delicious cheese fondue:

Follow up by an even better chocolate fondue:

It was a lovely and quiet evening! I got Steve the Sir Perfect and Me personalized book from Flatten Me–soooo cute! Even has a page that talks about his fantasy football, haha. I also got us a one night hotel stay at Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva, WI… it was a Groupon deal so we have the rest of the year to decide when we want to use it!

Ryan had a fun day too–he got a Valentine’s pillow pet, a recordable Hallmark book and had a blast eating his very own heart full of chocolate, haha. Too cute! My lil heartbreaker:

Wonderful Valentine’s Day How was yours?

Valentine's Survey

babydickey — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:49:10 +0000

1) What is your favorite romantic comedy?

2) What are your favorites flowers?

Lilacs! And lilies.

3) What is your favorite Valentine’s Day treat to eat?

Chocolate! Fannie May. Fondue.

4) Describe your best Valentine’s Day.

Probably my first one with Steve when we were dating. He brought me downstairs and their were candles all over the basement. The table had roses and more candles in the shape of a heart–and inside the heart was a scrapbook of pictures of us and poems he wrote about us. Then we sat on the floor together and ate chinese take-out

5) What was the most romantic night of your life?

The night Steve proposed? He made me a fancy dinner and then told me dessert was in the basement. I walked into the extra bedroom down there and saw a fancy fruit/chocolate dessert, candles and roses everywhere. I thought he was just being super romantic so I turned around to thank him and he was down on one knee

6) What’s your go-to date night outfit?

A fun little dress, like our Valentine’s date 2 years ago:

7) Where is your favorite place to go on a date?

Out to a fancy restaurant for dinner! Favorite is a local fondue place!

Store bought Valentine’s or homemade?

Both can be awesome

9) What is your favorite love song?

Pig — Dave Matthews Band
You and Me and One Spotlight — Yellowcard
Groovin’ Slowly — John Butler Trio

10) If you had to pick a date for Valentine’s, who would it be?

Well, if I had to pick… my hubby and my son, of course!

~~Another V-Day post to come, full of fun pictures ~~

My [short] stint as a SAHM [stay at home mom]

babydickey — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:48:09 +0000

I went back to work 6 weeks after Ryan was born. I quit when he was 7 months old and started a new job immediately after. But something that’s more than a little awesome? I teach [college] so I have a super long winter break.… about 5 weeks off! Granted, my winter “break” was jam packed with activities, but I was absolutely a SAHM for a month.

It was tough, not gonna lie.

It was so easy to get stuck in a rut–I blame this nasty cold thing we call winter–but my energy to actually get up and out of the house came in waves. I think I only showered every other day and those were the days I’d clean and get errands done. The other days? Pajamas until it was time to go to sleep again, spending the day on the floor with Ryan, eating cereal for dinner.

What else did we do? Ryan turned ONE! We went sledding, celebrated Christmas, went to Wisc for New Year’s Eve, had a big birthday party for Ryan, I threw a baby shower for friends, and my sister-in-law got married! Every single weekend of my break was booked AND I knew I was returning to work with a new class to teach, which meant preparing all new material. But I also tried out new dinner recipes, I went shopping, I got my nails done.… so, yea it was busy, but it was also nice.

Nice is the best word I could come up with. I was glad to get back to work. I only work outside the home about 15 hours a week (lots more work hours put in, but from home) and I think that’s the perfect mix. It gives me a “break” from home, it gets me up and motivated every day. Being a SAHM was hard! I think I drank more coffee and earned more gray hairs during that month off than as a WOHM (work out of the home mom).

But what else doesn’t make sense? Now I CAN’T WAIT for summer when I have 3 months off to spend with Ryan–bring on the coffee (iced, please) because this faux-SAHM has lots of summer mommy & me plans!

Simple changes for the new year

babydickey — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:43:29 +0000

One of the main things I told myself I needed to work on this year was time management. I want to spend more time with my family (Ryan’s 1st year went by WAY too fast). That means I need to be more effective at getting my WOHM duties done during naps or at night and I also need to spend less time online–or at least use my time online more wisely.

So what have I done so far?

I’ve carved out certain times in the day to spend on my classes [my WOHM duties–I’m a teacher]. I need my “home office” to be exactly that–time for work, not for play. This includes my office hours on campus–no play! This is probably the hardest part to change. I also work online in a number of ways: social media/PR for a company, my blogs, reviews… and those need to fit in somewhere, too. But one thing at a time! While I’m doing WOHM duties, all social media websites need to be CLOSED! Haha.

I signed Ryan up for parent-tot tumbling classes! And double bonus: it’s on Saturday mornings so Steve will get to come too. Fun family time! I can’t wait to see Ryan climbing over everything and jumping on the trampoline, he’s going to love it (and so are we). It starts next weekend I think… pictures to come!

I’m also signing Ryan up for parent-tot swim classes! We took some last summer, but he was 6 months old and all the other kids were over 1 and it just wasn’t much fun. I think this time he’ll enjoy it a lot more. We really need to get him interacting with other kids… without daycare or many mommy friends, he mostly interacts with our cats, hahaha.

As for more time with Steve [which is also a must], I actually just purchased a night in a hotel about an hour from here… and it doesn’t expire for a year, so we can use it whenever–maybe this summer? It’s always nice to get away! But more frequently… I’ve been saving recipes I find online in hopes of making dinner more often [I hate cooking and never do] so we can eat healthy meals together as a family.

I definitely think these changes will help me be less stressed and happier.

What simple changes are you making this year? Do you have any tips for me on how to best manage my time??? [And I only wish having 28 hours in a day was a feasible option!]

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Simply Orange® blogging program. If I am one of the first 65 blogs received by SocialsMoms, I will receive a $25 Target gift card and a gift pack that includes a Simply Orange® cooler bag and logoed fleece.”

Baby Dickey » Em&Steve

Happy anniversary!

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How Baby Dickey (And Family) Takes Care Of Money!

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Diamonds are a girl's best friend

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