Feeling so blessed

Update!!

This summer has been a complete whirlwind!! It has come and gone so fast and SO much has happened in our family!

-Me and Jeremy BOTH got new jobs!

-Max started going to school for little ones.

-Traveled all around to see family.

-I started a new business venture and I LOVE it!

First things first: We both got new jobs, Jeremy is now working downtown Nashville at a company called HealthStream and I am a new employee at a Special Education Inclusion daycare and I absolutely LOVE it! The people I work with are so passionate about these amazing kids and it is just such an amazing experience everyday that I am so blessed that God has put me there! Both of our jobs came out of the blue (God's plan!) and it just all seemed to FIT! It is amazing what patience and trust will do when you start trusting that He has a plan that is better than your own you get blessed!

Max loves his class and his teachers, he is doing so well and I really think that he will thrive in the environment he is in. We saw a lot of family this summer and Max got to play with Zoe! It was so fun and I didn't want to leave my precious family.

I have also started to sell Stella and Dot on the side for fun! It is super cute, good quality, affordable jewelry! I am addicted to it! Go to www.stelladot.com/marissajdixon and check out some end of the summer awesome sales that are going on right now!

That is a brief, VERY brief summary of our summer! :) I will post pictures later!

xoxo

M

Clean Eating

I don't know about you but I think that it is insane how much we spend on groceries every month. I have a budget set up on mint.com which has been awesome there is also an app on my phone!

Pretty cool..Anyways it shows you how much money you spend every month on certain things. Groceries is our weakness, we can spend up to 800 $ on groceries A MONTH for TWO (and a half) people! That is just completely crazy to me! I tried the coupon thing...not really into it so I started looking for other ways to save!

SO enter: EMEALZ.com  it has already reduced our bill to almost half the price. We have been using the Kroger Meal Plan for up to 5-7 people that way we had leftovers for lunch the next day! It has really helped us out...and now they have a new meal plan: Clean Eating. I am pretty excited to start cutting out processed foods from our diets. We don't necessarily eat a ton of processed stuff but I have started doing a lot of research lately and I feel spending the money up front for the non processed foods has its benefits in the long run. :)

Clean Eating

* I am going to keep a log of the money saved/spent while using this clean eating food plan. I don't want to spend more than 125$ a week on groceries.

*With every new "clean meals" I am going to take pictures and remember to journal how it went, if it tasted well...if it was a hit for all of us...etc. That way I can remember these recipes & maybe even pin them to my FOOD board on pinterest! [follow me! ;)]

Father's Day!

We started our day out with a little finger paint time! I found this pin on pinterest that had a recipe for edible finger paint! GENIUS! I loved it and so did Max, however if you are interested in making a handprint...this is NOT the paint for you.

What you will need:
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
2 cups of water
food coloring

Follow these directions: DIY fingerpaint

It takes a while for the mixture to thicken, it waits till the last possible minute but trust me it becomes THICK.

I wish I could stick every cute picture I have of Jeremy and Max onto this collage but there is not enough space in the world! These two are as thick as thieves I tell ya! No other person on earth can take the place of Jeremy in Max's eyes! He sure does LOVE his da da. So we celebrated Jeremy today and let him sleep in, fed him some good food and even let him watch the US Open all day long ;).

I love Sundays. I wish every day was Sunday.

I will leave you with my all time favorite "Dad" song: DAD LIFE

We love you Jeremy! :) Until next time...xoxo

praying for guidance!

I am just plain excited about the things that are happening to our little family! Keep us in your prayers as we listen for what God has planned for us. I will keep you guys updated as soon as I know more! Yay!

till next time...

M

14 months- new adventures with food!

I have been looking back at old posts on here from when I was pregnant. It makes me wish I was pregnant again (but no I'm not pregnant and that is OK). Just saying that when I become pregnant again, down the road, I wouldn't take it for granted. The quiet, long lazy afternoons of doing nothing except hanging out with my husband...being able to eat ANYTHING. (With the possibility of throwing it up of course) Most of all I wish I would have savored it... I feel like the whole time I was pregnant I was anticipating the actual birth.
Anyways...I just cannot believe that it has been 14 months since I welcomed the most precious gift into the world.  Maxwell Cooper Dixon 8 lbs 1 oz, perfect in every way!

Max updates:

- Can say: ball, boo (buhh), dada, juice, aw, baby, bye bye, tree, naanaa(banana)and we are workin on mama ;)
- LOVES books, any and all!
- sleeping through the night still (praise the Lord!)
- tried peanut butter this month and LOVED it! (and isn't allergic)
- and he loves strawberries, raspberries, WATERMELON, and bananas
- AND THE BIGGEST NEWS: MAX IS OFFICIALLY A WALKER! YAY!


The past month or so I have been trying to start feeding Max healthy, whole food lunches and snacks during the day. It is so easy to just warm up some easy mac and give that to him but I know it isn't giving him the nutrients he needs. SO I have become VERY good friends with a couple bloggers that I figured I would share here:

bleubirdvintage - "birdie" food aka some CUTE stuff!

whole foods. easy peasy! Really easy things to pack for lunches/snacks that won't break the bank.

One thing that I have learned is that once we introduced Peanut Butter into Max's diet it opened SO many doors, so many different ways to get protein into his system without having to always feed him chicken! :)

I have become slightly obsessed with his daily eating regimen but I don't think that it is getting out of hand...yet ;) There are so many blogs out there that help you find the perfect recipes and ideas for anything it is awesome!

Until next time!

xoxo
M

1 year has passed...

Maxwell Cooper Dixon
4/1/11 5:18pm
1st Picture

One year later...

I cannot believe that it has already been 1 year since Max was born this whole year has just been one big roller coaster of emotions: happy, sad, exciting, nervous, and most of all having no idea what to do. Just winging it! We made it!

We have quite the busy boy on our hands, he is into everything! We are still waiting for those first steps...He is trying but doesn't quite have it down yet. And we are OK with that because he already roams around so fast that we can barely follow him so we are only imagining what he will be like once he gets this whole walking thing down. Yikes.

We are having his birthday party this coming weekend, April 7th so I will update with pictures when I can!

My life is so much better with Max in it, I thank God everyday for giving me such a wonderful blessing!

mini musician

figuring out the importance of Sonny's

swanginggg

He loves the park!

& the slide!

precious smile.

my sweet 1 year old!

trying to figure out if he liked the sand...

xoxo
M

Ramblings

Carrying Your Cross:
I have a whole page of notes from todays sermon I planned on summarizing and using for this blog but I am just going to write what is on my mind. I will probably sound all jumbled but this is how it is.

Sometimes I feel like I take things for granted and I don't stop and think about how blessed I really am. This morning in church the Pastor was talking about how we should take up our cross daily and follow Christ. It was a heavy message and it was hard to really truly understand what it means to give up my expectations and carry my cross everyday.

At the end of the sermon he had three people come up and talk about what they felt it meant to take up our cross daily. This is the moment- the moment where I could no longer keep it in. There was one person in particular that made me overwhelmed with guilt and it wasn't for her it was because of how I have acted. This lady has the most grace I have ever seen, how she was able to speak the words she did without just completely falling apart I will never know but it touched my heart and all I could do was cry. She said that "carrying her cross daily" meant that she may never be a Mom. You see her and her husband have been trying to start a family for the past 3 years and have recently found that it is just physically not possible for them. They are in the middle of the adoption process and she said that her "carrying the cross" was internal. It was her having the midset that she doesn't have control over this- It is not something she can plan on happening and that she has come to terms that she may never be able to be a Mom.

I have been so preoccupied with life that  I have completely taken for granted that I have a beautiful son. That I am so blessed that I am able to be a Mother. In that moment all I could do was cry. I couldn't think, talk, speak, nothing. All I could think about was that I had gotten frustrated with Max that morning for something little and dumb. I felt guilty for ever taking him for granted or even for the fact that I had days where I wondered why I was a Mom and wishing it was easier. Max has brought SO much joy into my life. I cannot even imagine not having him with me, so in that moment where she has peace that she may not be a Mom I felt the most pain. I know that God has a plan for everyone and it is always better that the life we had planned.

As soon as I picked Max up from Sunday school I just gave him the biggest hug and kiss, and then when I got into our car Jeremy asked me if I was okay...I lost it, again. I am still mulling over todays sermon, trying to figure out what my burden is that I need to carry. I am not sure exactly what it is... BUT I do know that I hugged my little Max extra hard tonight. AND I know that from this day forward I will have more patience with Him and always kiss him goodnight.

I will post some updated pictures tomorrow, right now it is my bedtime!

Until next time...
xoxo