Our Bizzy Life!!

The one with the 10 month birthday!

2009-03-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

I'm only a few days behind on this one!!! Enjoy

We were really happy about this one!!! 3/10/09

Mom...I think this is enough pictures...

OH...there's my friend the bear!!!

Until next time...

The one with the nine month birthday...

2009-02-17T07:41:00.000-08:00

Can I beleive that our little man is 9 months old?!?!?!? NO I CAN'T!!!! I've not been good at all about posting, but just wanted to catch you up on the "month" pictures

11/10/08--6 months old

12/10/08--7 months old (he wouldn't leave his feet alone!! :)

1/10/09--8 months old (he's getting so silly!!)

2/10/09--9 months old

one more for fun...he has discovered Fella (the bear!! :)

I would say that I'm going to be better at posting...but you all know that is a toss up! Until next time...

The one with the 5 month birthday!

2008-10-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, our little man is 5 months old today! I have so many fun pics to put on here, (I'm so behind), but I wanted to do this one now. We have took Maddox's picture every month on his birthday on the couch with the same bear...we straight up stole this idea from the Hatcher's (Thanks!! :) The bear is sentimental for me because it was my grandmother's...she slept with it every night! :) Anyway...just thought you might like to see the progression! More pics to come later!

This one is on his actual "birth"day! (not with the bear)

5/10/08

One Month (after a long hard day!)

6/10/08

Two Months

7/10/08

Three Months

8/10/08

Four Months

9/10/08

Five Months (I love the crossed feet!!)

10/10/08

Until next time...

The one with the Samford slaughter...

2008-09-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

Well Faulkner opened it's season with a 62-0 loss to Samford University. As heartbreaking as the game was, we had a wonderful time!! Izzy and Adam decided to do the weekly tailgating ritual, so they headed to Birmingham around 10am (about 2 hours later than planned). Lindsey and I headed out about 10:30 to take Maddox to my parents house...the first time I left him for this long!!! I teared up a little, but got better! :) We had to stop for gas, and the gas station attendant didn't know ANYTHING about how to help me when the pump wouldn't go!!! He finally said just try another pump, and so we wen't to another station all together!! We got some gas and then were called by Izzy and told to get a power strip (#1 forgot item), and then got a little lecture about how late it was and the fact we were still in Montgomery. Thank you Lindsey for taking this call! :) We went to Wal-Mart, got the strip, and were on our way. When we got to Birmingham, we realized we needed a can opener to open the baked beans! (#2 forgot item) All was good until I started making the rotel dip and discovered I had forgotten the rotel cans at home!! (#3 forgot item) Big Thanks to Taylor, Neil, and Ashley for getting these items for us! After all that, the meal was on! We had a crowd all day, and had a blast. It feels like work to get all this together, but it is so much fun in the end! We can't wait until Huntingdon!!! Go Eagles! A few pics to share...

A small shot of the admissions/alumni tent with free drinks and chips...hey Joey! :)

A shot of our tents and the crazy people who wouldn't get out of the road...you know, we were threatned to have the police called on us because we were in the "road" of the parking lot!! :) Those Faulkner people are so rowdy!!

Some more views of our tents

Ashley being a ham...

David Hilyer and the boys playing the football in the "restricted road"!! :)

(it's always the president's kids you have to worry about! :)

WE WERE ON THE SPORTSCENTER CRAWL!!!!

Izzy was so excited when he saw it, that he jerked the camera when he took the picture...so NER lost to Samford!

Izzy and I at Loco's after the game

Lindsey and I at Loco's after the game...we were tired!!!

Until next time....

The one with Gustav...

2008-09-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Ok...so another beach trip, and another hurricane! I don't know what it is about us and the weather! We went this time with Izzy's parents to Destin, and we had a blast!

This is Maddox in his first "sink bath"! Mrs. Bobbie brought her fold up baby tub, but water kept coming out of the hinges, and he was just too big for it. We tried this, and apparently he likes it!

This is our footprints in the sand...guess how much greif I got from Izzy on this one! :) It did turn out cute though!

Here is our favorite restaurant in Destin!

He obviously like the float better this week!

And something was too funny!!

We may get to try the beach one more time this season...but believe me, we will check the weather (to make sure there IS a hurricane!! :) Until next time...

The one with Fay

2008-08-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

So, we haven't been to the beach all summer...for some reason we had more things to do! :) My parents have a timeshare in Panama City Beach for this week every year. Maddox, Izzy, and I headed out Saturday morning around 9:30 despite the fact that Tropical Storm Fay was on its way directly to the pan handle of Florida. This was against ALL of Izzy's common sense, but for some reason I won out. It rained a little on us going down, but not too bad. Once we got there however, they had the double red flags up...NO getting in the beach! Also, the pool was closed because of the weather. We didn't understand this at all!! It is an indoor pool, but nevertheless, it was closed. I think that I failed to mention that it stopped raining, and the sun was beginning to shine!! We went to my brother's hotel and swam in their pool! It didn't rain again on us until Monday morning...after Izzy left! I did get to have a big I told you so and the weekend turned out to be so much fun! Here are a few pictures that we took of Big Mad! He did enjoy the pool, but not so much the float.

Here is a picture of Maddox and Izzy with the crab float...I think the problem with it was that Izzy kept saying that Maddox had crabs! He didn't like that!

Here he is tuckered out from swimming...we put him in his tent and he slept until we woke him to go upstairs...this is despite the indoor pool with all the kids screaming!! :)

Here is one of him sleeping with PawPaw...I promise he did more than just sleep, but this was SO cute!

and one with MawMaw...asleep again! :)

This one was so sweet of his feet in the sand

and one in the water...even though we weren't suppossed

to be in it...we are such rule breakers!!!

We are planning on going back this weekend with Izzy's parents...we now get to battle Gustav!!!! Two weekends in a row...Two hurricanes in a row!! I'll let you know how it all goes!

Until next time...

The one where we are trying again!!!

2008-08-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go again! NOT trying for another baby...I just realized how that title sounded. I'm talking about the blog! I'm trying this one more time. I've got to get better, because I'm getting fussed at on every end to keep this blog up to date. I was tired of looking at the boring colors, so with the help of Louise Jones, I found one I think I like! I'm getting tutored on how to post everything...I just get bummed looking at everyone's great looking site!

With all that said, I want to start off trying to post some pictures of Maddox. For some great ones from our wonderful friend and photographer, Lindsey Bagwell, check out her page. http://www.realsimpleyou.blogspot.com/ Also, don't forget to check out her website (the address is on her blog).

Here is a couple of pictures of Maddox...we hope! :)

Yay...we did it! This is one of his great onesie that I got at Ross for $3.50! I was so pumped!

OK...I like this layout better! This is one in his overalls ready to help PawPaw in the country! :)

and now, I like the small size better! :) This is him ready for church!

Being a Mom is the most wonderful thing in the world!!!! I'm going to go now, but I PROMISE I'll get on again soon to update...with more pictures!!

That's all for now, hope all is well with you!!! Until next time...

The one with the newborn pictures

2008-06-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I haven't been on here in forever...or at least 6 weeks...and I don't have a ton of time now! I just want to put a link on here for Maddox's newborn pictures! I have a TON of ones to put on here, and will try to do that this next week! I know the one Izzy sent hasn't been enough. He is growing SO much! check out this blog though, and I'll put some of ours on here ASAP! http://www.realsimpleyou.blogspot.com/ Again, this is my great friend Lindsey Bagwell, and she is an AMAZING photographer! PLEASE use her anytime you need anything! My pregnancy pics were great and so were these! She has done some weddings too! Check her out! Until next time...

The One With The Arrival

2008-05-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

So...if you haven't heard the news yet...Maddox Lee Isbell arrived (surprise) on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 3:39 p.m. in the afternoon at Baptist East hospital in Montgomery. He weighed eight pounds, three ounces, and was a little over 21 inches long. Everything went absolutely wonderful...and Kim and I are super tired...

Here's a cool pic to wet your whistle, expect more later.

Until next time...

The (Looooonnnng) One About Fridays at 11:40ish

2008-05-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

Although I have to sign in under Kim's name, it's actually Izzy posting...again. If that changes your mind about reading further, you can leave now. I'll wait...

I really think I could get used to this blog thing, and I've noticed from our blog and others that if you make a post that sort of asks questions or solicits opinions that you'll receive a lot of responses. It appears in blog-land that responses are like quasi-approval of both the blog and the poster (not sure if that's the proper term). To me, it shouldn't be the number of responses, it should be the number of persons who visit the site. Or, maybe even readers could rate the posters. For example, someone could say "That was a great post!" and reward you with a "10" and just brighten up your whole world. In contrast, someone could say that post was no good and give you a 1, even if they didn't mean it. But really, who would police such a thing? I digress...

However, I'm still really confused about what I'm doing here in the Blogosphere. Blogs are hard to find, so I'm curious how folks found ours and will find ours in the future. I'd almost rather my part of the blog to be a Question/Answer section: questions such as "How does Izzy make his Greek salad?", "What's the capital of Finland?", "Shouldn't we all like the Yankees?", "Why is the Philly Cheesesteak the best sandwich ever?" and "How does a bill become law?" would be quickly met with thorough replies that were mixed with both knowledge and humor; that's just what I do. That way, I'd have a purpose on Our Bizzy Life other than bugging Kim to make a post every once in a while.

But I do like typing. And I like writing. And I love to vent and wax philosophical on things great and small. And I guess that when I get started typing, and writing, and venting, and waxing, things can just get out of hand. I can already tell that this post will be too long and boring to everyone except me, the poster (there must be a better term).

And I truly adore the thought that I can sit here after 6:00 pm on a random Thursday and tell everyone in the Internet-connected universe what I'm doing. For no reason, whatsoever. And the funny thing is, you'll read it. And maybe even respond with a ten.

Since you asked, it's the second-to-last day of the 2008 Regular Legislative Session. If you know anything about law - and I know that you all do - you're aware that any time both legislative houses pass a bill (not a Constitutional Amendment, FYI) that it will be transmitted to the Governor/President. As the Chief Executive, he has the power to veto any legislation that comes across his desk (also known as the "Check" part of "Checks and Balances"). However, the laws also allow for the same legislative bodies to override such a veto, essentially disregarding the displeasure of the Chief Executive (the "Balance").

The wrinkle here is the fact that Alabama's Governor has ten days in which to sign, not sign or send back legislation transmitted to him. If he signs it, it's law. If he sends it back, the legislature can accept his changes or not accept his changes; what they do depends on whether it becomes law. But if he does nothing, it is automatically veteod after ten days (known as a "Pocket Veto"). Alabama's legislative session lasts 30 legislative days, so there's just one left. The next/last legisaltive day is eleven days away - May 19th. Can you guess why? It's scheduled that way so that anything transmitted today to the Governor still has at least the possibility of becoming law even if the Governor vetoes it. For example, a bill passed today and transmitted today could not be signed by the Governor (or could be vetoed outright). Nevertheless, when the legislators return for Day #30, they'll have the opportunity to override the veto. If you transmit a bill to the Governor on Day #30, however, you have zero chance of overriding any veto because there's no more legislative days available for such an action to be taken.

My point is, I look forward to the 29th legislative day almost as much as any day on the legislative calendar. Granted, it's a terribly long workday; it's 6:31 in "real time" and I know that I have approximately 6 hours of my workday in front of me. Nevertheless, I like the fact that the ten days after today are going to be extremely easy for me at work, followed by one more hard day, followed by six or seven months of legislative peace and quiet.

Realizing the weirdness of that, I started wondering about other things I'm looking forward to...and that's what I want to post about.

In life, people have "things on their plate" that fall into "huge" categories. Most people only have one such "huge" thing at once. I, however, currently have three. First, Big Mad is on his merry little way. According to Kim, he is very anti-placenta right now and is ready to watch some SportsCenter with his dad, mom and sister (Pebbles). Second, I'm still in school and we're 2/3rds of the way through Finals (last one is Monday). If you don't think law school finals qualify as "huge" you're just plain incorrect; get off this blog, now. Third, as previously mentioned, the difficulty of work is at its annual apex. As my work responsibilities have increased ten-fold over the last six months, this session has been especially tough; definitely "huge"-worthy.

With that being said, you'd think I'd be actively looking forward to the following: Maddox's arrival; the end of the semester; and session to be over.

Not even close.

Right now, at this point of the day, in the midst of my crazy/beautiful life, I'm looking forward to one thing only: pizza with my boys. Tomorrow.

You see, every Friday around 11:40, a group of guys get together at a little establishment known as Pizza Perfect. This little "slice" (YES!) of heaven is not exactly located in the high-end part of Montgomery, assuming such a part exists. For instance, within 100 yards of PP are the following: a deli, a tire shop, a tae-kwon-do dojo, a Curves (SO funny to walk by when they forget to shut the blinds...), a CPA's Office, an auto parts place, a school supply store, a flea market, a gas station, a grocery store, a fire station, an insurance agent's place of business and an Oxygen Bar. Furthermore, and I hate to admit this, but Pizza Perfect doesn't even offer the best pizza or salad in the world (it ranks, for example, behind Tomotino's and Sam's Club, for starters).

But I don't go for the location, and I don't necessarily go for the food. I go for the fellowship. And that's why 11:40 on Friday is just about the most looked-forward-to time on my watch. It's a no-girls-allowed, no-holds-barred, hour-to-hour-and-a-half therapy session complete with thin-crust sausage, a Meat Supreme that includes Bacos as one of its toppings, cleanly cut pages of random issues Sports Illustrated framed on the men's restroom wall, and unlimited refills. It's the best $6.00 in the history of the world. And Pizza Perfect has its own characters, too, no question. There's Patches, our waiter; the memory of Julian the Great, the greatest GraveDigger of all time; Mr. Ault, always steadying the other side of the pizza pans so that I can get the slice I want; and others we ALWAYS see - customers and employees - that we don't know but give us dirty looks.

And I know that none of my guys will probably ever read this, and that none of you readers likely care too much about it. But that's it...that's what I'm looking forward to.

There's an eclectic cast of characters in our little pizza club. Some show up regularly, some don't. You don't ask if we're meeting, you don't call around and figure out what time it starts...you just know. It's the rules.

If you added it up, I dare say that we've had at least 30 different individuals meet us at the Red Tables by the chalkboard (never in the Cone of Silence, by the way).

And I love it.

I'm always looking forward to seeing what's new in Clay and Barry's life. I'm curious as to how young Neil Scott's current girlfriend is. I'm excited to see if Hatch will find any worms in his salad or tell me some funny story about Brooks or softball. I'm anxious to hear Chuck's new prediction about Faulkner Football's future success. I'm grateful, even, for people like John Gordon and JoMo showing up every now and then and eating more than me. I'm nervous about Chad Brown showing up and us tainting his snow-white character. I'm thankful for Taylor and Sonny being there, because I don't guess I could ever get enough of either one of them. And then there's my brothers...Dirt and Adam. Our schedules are all so crazy right now that Pizza Perfect is about the time I get to see them, my best friends in the world. No better day than sitting between them in the middle of the pack with a heap of Pan Pepperoni.

So, yes, I'm greatly looking forward to dotting the last "i" on my Property II exam Monday night. I'm counting down the days until the gavel hits the desk for the last time until 2009. And I'm certainly growing more ready each day to cut the cord and smoke a cigar.

But I'm also looking forward to lunch tomorrow, where, for at least a little while, I'm transported back to the world where the biggest decision I have to make is whether or not to go back for thirds...

Until next time...

The one with the 37 week appt. (and "the news")

2008-05-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well...beleive it or not, we have made it 37 weeks! I still have tons of friends that tell me that we won't make it all the way until May 25th, but I, and Maddox, disagree! We went to the doctor today, and after waiting for 2 hours (he was so behind because of an emergency c-section earlier in the morning), we were told that everything is still "in tact", and it doesn't look like he's coming anytime before his due date. Although, he said that he could come at any time! :)

Now for "the news"...my WONDERFUL doctor told us that he is going on a medical mission trip leaving on Wednesday the 28th!!!! Please don't get me wrong, I'm so excited that our doctor is so involved with the Lord, and is going on this trip, but WHY NOW?!?!? :) He did say however that if I am dialated at all, he would like to induce on the 27th, so he could be here, but he's not going to if I haven't dialated. SO...I may have to have another doctor. I'm a little nervous, not to mention for the obvious reasons, but I haven't seen anyone else at all!

Also, after talking with Dr. Phillips today, I think we may have changed our mind to deliver at Baptist East. We were going to Jackson, but after lots of stories (which I'm going to spare you), and going by there after our appointment...I think that's where we are going. Any suggestions?

My great friend Lindsey (look for her blog on the side), has shown me how to do more on here, so maybe I'll get a little better. She also took some GREAT pictures of me...not because they were of me!!! :) I'll try to get these on ASAP! Until next time...

The One With The (Future) Dad

2008-05-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

So...Kim finally unlocked the secret username and password and allowed me to make a blog post. Unless she changes it without telling me, expect me to make a post every now and then. I think when Big Mad gets here that we'll probably post a little more often and keep up with the blog a bit better. In fact, we've talked about trying to keep it as up-to-date as possible for his first year. There's some companies on the web that will take your blog and put it in a hard bound book, so our blog would turn into a scrapbook. That would motivate us to keep up the blog and give me some ammo to tell Kim "NO" whenever she wants to buy some stupid scrapbooking page.

So what would you readers like? Do you want some sort of long philosophical opinion-filled post or some jokes? Do you want me to talk about my schedule and my day or Auburn and the Yankees? I'm open for whatever. But as of right now, this post is coming to a quick end. I just got back from the eye doctor and my pupils look like black holes. I've got my sunglasses on as I'm typing this and things are looking a little blurry. Until next time...

The one just for Scott Busby (and eveyone else on my case! :)

2008-04-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

OK...so here it is, April 18th, and I'm finally updating! I have NO excuse for not doing this, just laziness, life, etc. I was going to try to keep every one updated through here, but I'm falling behind BIG TIME!!

For those who do not know yet, we are having a BOY!!!!! Maddox Lee Isbell! We are so excited and can't wait to meet our little man! We had our church shower on Sunday, and got a TON of fabulous gifts! I'll put some pictures on here when I figure out how to do that!

Maddox is doing GREAT...right on schedule so my doctor says. I've had this crud that I can't seem to shake, but it's getting better now, just in time for the craziness that my life is becoming!

Izzy and I were looking at our calendar for the next couple of weeks, and we have something EVERY WEEKEND until Maddox gets here! It's just amazing how time flies!

We have a yard sale this weekend that we are trying to get things together for...I'll post again next week to let you know how it all goes!

I'll also try to put he NEW sonogram pictures on here...they are really from January, but they will be new to you! Hope all is well with you and yours! Until next time...

The one with the 14 week appointment...

2007-11-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

Well we had an appointment this morning. After sitting in the office for over an hour, we saw the Dr. who stayed with us for about 4.5 min!!! I guess that's the drawback of being the healthiest, lowest risk patient that he has (That's what he told us last time). I've never had anyone tell me I was sickly, but for someone to say that I was the healthiest patient he has...that made me feel REAL good! They listened to the heartbeat (155...down from 178!!), and gave me a flu shot! He said that we could find out what we are having in 6 weeks...about the first of the year! Also, I haven't gained a pound! I feel bigger, but I guess it's just changing places! I'm getting so excited about Thanksgiving...we are going to Sylacauga to both grandmother's houses...I'm sure I'll gain wait then!! That's about all for now...until next time...

The one with Kimmy sleeping (all the time)...

2007-11-05T11:57:00.000-08:00

So...I haven't been sick at all!!! I can't tell you how excited we are about that! I haven't even felt nauseated...sometimes we wonder if we are really pregnant! HOWEVER, I could sleep all the time. I can't tell you how tired I have been. When I eat...which is all the time...I feel like a ton of bricks just hit me! It's horrible after lunch at school...those poor kids just have to deal with me yawning all the time. But hey...I'll take tired over sick ANY day!!! Until next time...

The one with the BIG NEWS...

2007-10-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

WE ARE HAVING A LITTLE IZZY!!!!!!!!!!!! Just wanted everyone to know that we are having a BABY!!! We found out a few weeks ago, but just got the all clear from the Dr. We went for an ultrasound yesterday and the little one was waving at us the entire time! I can't explain how cool it was! It had a very strong heartbeat, and you could tell it's really beginning to look like a baby. We are due on May 25th, 2008...my daddy's birthday!! Happy Birthday Paw-Paw! :) Our last day of school is May 21st...talk about cutting it close! Just pray that we all make it until then! I'm going to try to post the pictures on here, but I have had some troubles...remember I said I was "trying" to be hip! :) until next time...

First Timer

2007-10-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well, here I go trying to be "hip". Several friends are doing this, so I thought I would jump on the band wagon and try it out! Hopefully, I will keep up and put pictures and things on here so family from near and far can keep up with the Isbells. (That is if we can keep up with ourselves! :)