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Single Dad Weekend
on August 25 2009 at 10:37 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy

I'm looking forward to this coming weekend. Why do you say that Andy? It's because Jaime's going out of town. No no, it's not what you think. Since she's taking Evan with her to see her friend Bethany, it means that I get to spend the whole weekend with Noelle. Just some Daddy / daughter time. I'm starting off the weekend spending time on Friday night with my friend Matt and his kids. Sat is wide open, but I expect we'll go out to breakfast together, then to the Farmer's Market. I'm sure we'll spend some time at the park before coming home and watching a movie together. I might even make some fish with Noelle since Jaime hates the stuff.


What about you other dads out there? What do YOU do with your kids while the wife is out of the house? Games? Movies? Playtime? Spill the beans and share with the rest of us. You never know when you might learn something or, better yet, teach someone else something new.

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Daddy daughter time sounds like fun! Enjoy!

Grammy - August 26, 2009 12:28 pm

The centennial mall fountains, the local spray parks, Pied Piper Creamery ice cream for dinner, Zoo date, Adventure science center date, puppet show at the library,movie night with pop-corn for dinner...oh the list is endless! (Not that I'm a dad, but Cora and I go on our share of adventures.) Check out Nashville Parent's website with a list of activities for the week (and weekend!)

Ariana - August 26, 2009 08:20 pm

I thought of more things...couch cushion forts, air tent forts, nature walks, fishing in Shelby Park pond, feeding the ducks there too. Oh Yes. I DID say it was endless... :) Have fun!!

Ariana - August 26, 2009 08:22 pm

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Cherries, Charlotte, and Celebration
on May 31 2009 at 09:21 AM by: Jaime Matthews
File under: Andy, Jaime, Charlotte Mae
Click to see a larger photo I really like cherries. They only come around for a short time, and they are crazy expensive as fruit goes, but they are so good! I never used to buy them, but for the third year in a row I will allow myself to buy as many as I want while they are in season. Two years ago on this day, we lost our daughter Charlotte at 19 weeks of pregnancy. We went in for a routine ultrasound and discovered that she had died, and after a short induction and labor, we held our tiny baby and said hello and goodbye all in just a few minutes time. In my grief, enjoying cherries comforted my soul just a tiny bit, and now when I see them come back to the grocery store I remember my little girl. Not that I need help to remember her, but it's nice to have something outside of myself that brings Charlotte to mind. It makes her that much more real to me, when sometimes it all seems like it was a dream. So for you, Charlotte, I will enjoy all I can of this special fruit while it lasts, because you taught me that it's important to enjoy the people and things you love while they are with you. I am quite sure that we will share a bowl of cherries when we see each other again in Heaven.

Today is also our wedding anniversary, six years ago today Andy and I got married! Which means that six years and 5 months ago we started dating! It all happened fast, too fast in the eyes of some (I'm talking to you, random woman at my bridal shower), but I think it's turned out pretty great. We have had our ups and downs, to be sure, some brought on by life, some by ourselves, but we are still learning and growing together in love. We enjoyed an anniversary dinner last night at a local restaurant called Watanabe, followed by a walk around 5 Points here in East Nashville. There are a lot of things that have changed about me since meeting Andy, one of which is my sense of adventure when it comes to food. Growing up I was convinced my mom was trying to make me eat alligator when she served salisbury steak, and while I still wouldn't eat alligator, I will try almost any non-meat food and like most of it. I am nowhere near as adventuresome as Andy would like, but I think he's proud of the way his tastes have rubbed off on me. Marriage has turned into a greater compromise in some areas than I think either of us ever thought it would be, but in that, we have both been stretched to truly expand and grow, and I know that I at least am better off for it.

May 31 will probably always be a bittersweet day, but I am grateful for both my daughter and my husband, both of whom will be in my life forever here and in eternity. Happy Birthday, Charlotte, and Happy Anniversary, Andy! I love you!
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Happy Anniversary AND happy Charlotte. I wish you gladness in remembering and looking forward to seeing her again!

Ariana - June 02, 2009 09:09 pm

I love you baby. I AM proud of your taste changes, and your willingness to try new things. I think I'll be able to die when you finally agree to try fish, but until then we can live together happily, and I can watch you eat cherries until your "fat pants split".

andy matthews - June 05, 2009 10:07 am

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While the wife is away...I realize just how much work she does
on March 07 2009 at 03:31 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy, Evan Joseph
So Jaime's at a women's retreat. I'm glad she's going actually. It'll be good for her. Hang time with other mamas, away from the kids and the stress of being a stay at home mom, and all that. Plus I'm looking forward to seeing just how I fare with two kids and not much experience managing both of them together.

So far they're doing quite well, semi-surprisingly. Evan's eaten twice so far, both times with very little fuss. They've both been asleep for about an hour and Noelle is just now waking up. We're roughly halfway through the weekend and I'm pretty happy so far.

We went to Dragon Park this morning because it was so beautiful. Noelle played around while Evan and I relaxed and watched her. What will the rest of the weekend hold for me and the kids? Not sure but I know I'm glad to make this sacrifice so that Jaime can relax as well.

Hope you're having a great time baby. Be safe.
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Locks of Love, or how I learned to let go
on January 17 2009 at 08:23 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy
I've never been a fan of myself with short hair. Well, there was that unfortunate period during high school where I thought a "spike" was the height of hair couture but we shall never speak of that time period again. So where was I? That's right...I've always preferred myself with longer hair. Add to that my fondness for tattoos, and the two ear piercings I have and you wonder why Jaime, a good Nazarene girl ever married me.

Again I digress...back in the 90s I was going for a record...my hair was down to my chest and I had no intention of cutting it, but then I got bored with having long hair. It was a pain to maintain, and if I was always going to put it into a ponytail then what was the point? So in 1995 I cut it; but ever since then I've toyed with growing it out again. I'd get to the awful middle hair stage and give it. Middle hair stage? What's that you say? That's simply the phase where your hair is "too long to be considered short, but too short to put in a ponytail".

Finally, about 2 years ago I decided to go for it again. Even though Jaime was against it, even though society says men should have short hair, even though I find it hard to decide which flavor to start with first on Neapolitan ice cream...I went for it. And it grew, and grew, and grew. I wore it in ponytails, under hats, in a bun, and down...until today.

In one of her dastardly ploys Jaime suggested that I could donate my hair to Locks of Love. She told our 3 year old daughter that "daddy was going to give his hair to some little child who didn't have any." Turning to examine our 3 month old son, who is almost completely hairless, Noelle replied "you mean like Evan?" How low can you stoop woman? Using children with cancer to tug at my hair bands heartstrings? Well, it worked, I am again a man...but mostly because I was again getting bored with it. Hopefully my son will be proud of me, and hopefully some child with a terminal illness will find solace in the hair that I have provided to them. God bless you little child.
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Matthews family updates...
on November 12 2008 at 01:58 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy, Jaime, Evan Joseph
Just wanted to throw out a quick update on our family...

Jaime, Noelle, and I are finally over our respective sicknesses and feeling better. Evan is back to sleeping better. You might know that for his first three weeks, he was only waking up an average of once a night. Well, Jaime and I earned that once a night from having to deal with Noelle's sleep vagaries for over a year. Problem is that we got used to it, and then he started waking up more than once, and not going back to sleep after eating. After seeing how much he weighed at his last cardiologist appt (11.4 pounds, the chunk) we just attributed it to a growth spurt.

Some of you might know that our entire yard is (was, but I'll get to that in a minute) a disaster area. It was uneven, and bumpy, and full of weeds. We finally worked it into our budget to have the yard redone. Jaime and I hired a local company to kill our grass in both the front and side yards. They then came in with a Bobcat and leveled out the whole thing, as well as cut a spot right by the driveway which can be used as a parking area for visitors. They then seeded the area and layed down straw to help the seeds germinate. Lastly, they tore up our horrible sidewalk and replaced it with fresh, new concrete.

I've been watering it now for over 2 weeks and we're finally starting to get grass coming back in. It's like a beautiful bird who's just gone through the first stages of molting. They look terrible while it's happening, but you just know what it will look like after it's all said and done.
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RIAdventure cruise, and World of Warcraft?
on September 30 2008 at 07:56 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy
Click to see a larger photo You might wonder what those two things have in common. Heck, you might wonder what those two things even ARE. That's okay, because I'm about to tell you.

The RIAdventure cruise is the brainchild of Joshua Cyr over at Useful Concept. He decided that he wanted to take a cruise, and invite people in his industry, namely web development. So he did it...and the result was RIAdventure.

I can't go on the cruise because, as you may know, I'll have a 2 or 3 month old baby at that point, but I wish all of them well. The main reason I'm posting is because Joshua is having a contest to drum up support for RIAdventure. To enter, all you need do is answer these questions:

1) List your top reason someone should go to RIAdventure.
2) List your top reason you want to try out WOW (world of warcraft).

My answers are as follows:

1) A cruise would be a wonderful way to immerse yourself in learning about web development.
2) World of Warcraft is an immersive environment with great challenges, fun game play, and beautiful artwork and graphics.

Why not read more about the contest?
Check the link
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Shopping with Noelle
on September 10 2008 at 10:35 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
Click to see a larger photo Lately Noelle has been exhibiting every signs of turning 3.

- Temperamental and often moody? Check
- Endlessly uses the word no in a defiant manner? Check
- Wants to do her own thing? Check

So Jaime and I have been trying to come up with clever, and innovative ways to get Noelle to do what we want her to, without compromising her independence. I wanted Noelle to go to the store with me tonight, both because we needed a few things (plus I enjoy taking her with me), and to give Jaime a little time alone. Problem is that she didn't want to go.

So I told Noelle a story about Ellen the squirrel-o and how she went with her Daddy to the store to buy some groceries for dinner. Then I asked Noelle if she wanted to go to the store like Ellen and presto..."yes Daddy". I walked in to the kitchen to make a grocery list when Jaime added her two cents with a "why don't you print pictures of the things you need so that Noelle can help you?"

Well, we didn't have time for that, but since there were only a half dozen things on the list, I drew pictures of each of the things while Noelle was watching, then I told her what those things were while I drew them. She picked up on them right away, and after a minute or so was able to recite everything off the list, just by looking at the pictures. So off we went to the grocery store. You can tell she was excited about helping me shop by the picture.
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What a clever Daddy you are! Why wasn't I able to come up with that when you were little!! Good job Noelle, Grammy is proud of you!! LUVU Bunches

mom m - September 11, 2008 11:20 am

Jackson loves having his own "list." Too bad the stress of shopping with them gernerally gives me a massive headache!

Mindy - September 12, 2008 06:51 am

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Recipe: Southwestern Salad
on September 10 2008 at 10:15 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy
Hey everyone...just wanted to share a recipe with you. It's called Southwestern Salad and it's an easy way to add some flavor and protein while keeping the calories and fat low.

Southwestern Salad
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper

Serve on lettuce with shredded cheese, salsa, ranch dressing, and crumbled tortilla chips.

The mix also tastes good as a chip dip for whatever you have leftover after salads! I also added some leftover chicken this last time and it was excellent
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That sounds super yummy!!

Ann at mommysecrets - September 15, 2008 01:26 pm

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Daddy Can
on August 04 2008 at 12:33 PM by: Jaime Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
Noelle and I got McDonalds today due to our kitchen being completely blocked off while the hardwood floors are redone. In her kids meal she got a Polly Pocket doll that came with a little thing that is pretty hard to open for a kid. She asked me how to open it, and after I explained it to her and showed her she said, "Oh! So if I want to open it, I ask Daddy!"
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Why not? She already asks Daddy to do lots of other stuff.

andy matthews - August 04, 2008 12:08 pm

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I'm scared Daddy...I'm scared.
on July 14 2008 at 10:20 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
It always amazes me when kids "learn" to be sneaky.

The other night, Noelle was having a rough time going to sleep. She kept calling for me and calling for me with these silly requests. "My blanket is on the floor.", or "I can't find my picnic basket." or my favorite "baby doesn't have her shirt on.".

Anyway, I finally got really fed up with her and told her not to call for me again unless you're scared, or hurt, and to just go to sleep!

Next morning, what do I hear? "Daddy...I scared. I'm scared Daddy" in the happiest, most cheerful voice you've ever heard.

Kidsitellyou!
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Saturday
on July 05 2008 at 07:48 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
Click to see a larger photo Here's the breakdown for today...pics are here

6:10am - "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" Why on earth does she wake up this early? I know that she CAN sleep in because she used to wake up at 6:45 - 7 every morning so something must have changed. Note to self: Must tape aluminum foil over windows to simulate total darkness.

6:20am - Noelle lets the dogs outside with me every morning. Lately she's been very crabby when she wakes up, see entry above for reason, even though I KNOW she's still got to be tired.

6:25am - Noelle gets stickers as a prize for helping me with the dogs and puts them on paper. She loves everything about stickers; they're some of her favorite things.

6:45am - Noelle eats breakfast while I do laundry. I gave Jaime a "1 week of free laundry" coupon for our anniversary. She decided to cash it in this week.

7:00am - Noelle plays in the living room while I eat breakfast.

7:45 - Noelle asks for "a cat video" while we're in the office. I had already told her she couldn't watch a show because we're getting ready to go visit our "farmer friends". Youtube.com is the greatest invention for entertaining children...within seconds I find thousands of cat videos and we're watching one. 10 minutes later we've watched 2 "funniest cats" videos and one "funniest dogs" video and then it's time to leave.

7:58am - We head out to pick up our CSA produce from our "farmer friends". Lately that's been the Saturday morning routine for Noelle and I. We get up, eat breakfast, and then go pick up our "groceries".

8:20am - Noelle enjoys helping me count our veggies, and weighing them. Cher and Eric (the farmers) have learned our names and greet us as we walk up. As we're leaving, Noelle asks me to roll down the window so that she can say goodbye to them. It's cute.

8:55am - Back at home and Noelle plays in the living room while Jaime gets ready. Kate Truss is coming over at 9:30 for play time so we've got to get ready.

9:30am - Kate gets here and the girls start playing. They get along surprisingly well considering they usually fight over everything.

10:30am - While the girls are playing in Noelle's room, Jaime and I both notice that Noelle is a hidden instigator. Noelle would do, or say, something to Kate. Kate would start whining and Noelle would instantly start "shhh"-ing Kate to keep her from tattling. Instantly thoughts of Noelle doing this to younger siblings spring to mind.

12:30pm - Jason and Shannon Truss come to pick up Kate. We pass some time after they leave by reading, or playing.

1:15pm - Getting ready to head to a pool party for one of Noelle's classmates from Parent's Day Out. Should be fun.

5:15pm - We just got back from the party. We weren't quite sure what to expect but we ended up having a good time. This little girl, Sky, and her family live in a very wealthy part of Nashville and so the party was quite over the top. Gourmet eats and drinks for the adults, along with a real life snack truck in the back yard. An in-ground pool and lots and lots of people. Noelle wanted to swim, but both Jaime and I forgot our swim gear. So at first I sat on the edge of the pool with Noelle and let her play on the steps. Finally she wanted more than just swimming on the edge, so I bit the bullet and jumped in with my shorts. We stayed just long enough to see Sky blow out the candles, eat some cake, and then we left. Noelle was cracking Jaime and I up on the way home because she was so tired she wasn't talking straight. This child is going to bed EARLY tonight for sure.

6pm - Jaime and Noelle have been laying down watching TV, resting. Now they're having smoothies before bathtime.

6:15pm - Bathtime for Noelle...trying to wind down the day and get her drowsy and ready for a LONG sleep. As she's walking into the bathroom, Jaime starts laughing and proceeds to tell me that she shared a straw with Noelle for the last part of their smoothies. Noelle says in a rough whispery voice "don't drink after me mommy...my sick" even though she's not sick...silly billy girl.

6:45pm - Finally it's bedtime and a well-deserved rest for mommy and daddy. Luckily it's my turn to sleep in tomorrow morning.

7:00pm - Noelle's asleep by 7pm for the first time in 4 or 5 months.
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WOW! What a full weekend you had. Lots of parties and good stuff to do. That is super!! I'm soaking up the blog for the last couple of days....Thanks Mommy and Daddy for keeping us Grandmas and Grandpas (aunt and uncle included) in the loop for the hour by hour(almost) of your lives. Kisses and Hugs for that!

grammy - July 06, 2008 03:59 pm

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Happy Father's Day
on June 16 2008 at 08:57 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy, Family
So Father's Day was this past weekend and I had a great time. This is only my third one (as a Dad myself) but this was the best one. We had lots of good food, I got to spend lots of time with Noelle and Jaime (and the coming baby), and I even got lots of time to myself. All in all it was a great weekend in general, but even better as Father's Day.

Saturdays are Jaime's day to sleep in, so when Noelle woke up at 6:45 I jumped out of bed and went to get her. She was in a great mood so we talked while I got her dressed. You might recall that the Matthews' have joined a CSA program (think farmer's co-op), which we share with Brad and Heather Daugherty. Sat is the day that Eric and Cher (from Bugtussle farms) are in Nashville, and it was the Matthews' turn to go pick it up.

Noelle and I headed over to pick up the produce, singing and laughing and talking the whole way. When we got there she helped me collect our goods, and even helped me weigh the peas. After we got back in the car, I decided that Jaime hadn't had enough chance to rest, so Noelle and I sacrificed our time and went to eat at Fido's.

All in all, my weekend with Noelle was great. We had so much fun playing and talking and laughing. It's a special blessing to have a child who's so good-natured, and bright, and clever. I'll leave you with this little story about Noelle to tie it all back together. We planned on calling both my dad, and Jaime's on Sunday and so we trained Noelle to yell "Happy Father's Day" on cue. "Okay Noelle, when they pick up the phone what do you say?" "Happy Father's Day!". "That's right Noelle...good job." Right before we called Jaime's dad, Noelle let's out a huge toot. Jaime looks over at her and says "Noelle...what do you say?" to which Noelle responds loudly "Happy Father's Day!!!"

I hope everyone had as good a Father's Day Weekend as I did.
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WOW, you packed a lot into a weekend! Sounds like you and Silly Willy Noelle had a great time. I love how you fit perfectly in the role as Father! Hugs and Kisses to all. MOM

Mom M. - June 18, 2008 05:57 am

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Anniversary
on May 31 2008 at 11:05 PM by: Jaime Matthews
File under: Andy, Jaime, Charlotte Mae
Today we are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary, as well as the 1 year anniversary of the day Charlotte was born. Celebrate almost seems like the wrong word when thinking about Charlotte, but after looking it up in the dictionary I think it's just right. The definition of celebrate is "to observe a day or commemorate an event with ceremonies or festivities", or "to make known publicly; proclaim." It comes from the Latin word celebrare, which means "to solemnize, celebrate, honor," but also "to frequent, to fill together." Times of celebration remind us that we are part of a community, we are not going through this life alone.

An article I read online today said that celebration "fulfills a human need in two ways. First, we all have the need to escape the pressures of everyday life and the responsibilities which absorb so much of our time. We need to distance ourselves from this pressure in order to grasp the depth and fullness of daily life. Second, celebration allows us to enter into a more profound communion with the social groups that define us. Our relationships define each one of us as a social entity and help to integrate us more fully into the body to which we belong."

As I get older I find myself caring less about my birthday, Mother's Day, and all those other holidays that put the focus on me. I tell myself that although a break from responsibility and recognition of the day are appreciated, I don't need anything. What I forget, though, is that God created us to need each other. He made all believers a family, brothers and sisters, and His son prayed many times that we would be one as the trinity is one.

The same article referenced this passage in the Bible:
Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he had possessed was his own, but they had everything in common ... There was not a needy person among them, for as many were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made to each as any had need (Acts 4:32, 34-35).

I'm not necessarily suggesting that I'd like to go back to communal living, but there was a lot of good in that way of life. We try to do entirely too much on our own, and we're all frazzled as a result. This has lended itself to us having a much harder time understanding the concept of dependence on God. We can do for ourselves what needs to be done, we're told to take control of our own lives, set boundaries, get as much out of this life as we can. All of that is well and good, but it too often sacrifices community in favor of "personal growth."

The author also wrote that "those who champion individualism think of freedom as the absence of interference from outside forces. In contrast, ...think of freedom as the ability to make our lives a gift through which we deepen our relationship with the community. A person is a being-in-relationship, and to exist is to be in a relationship. To deny relationality is to hover on the brink of non-being. But the more we belong to one another--the more we are able to make ourselves a gift--the more fully we exist."

What does all of this have to do with Charlotte? When she died one year ago, I had a choice. I could have shut down, kept it inside, let it alienate me and weaken my faith. Or, I could see it through God's eyes, and ask "to what end." Andy and I decided from the first moment we saw Charlotte's little body on the ultrasound screen with no heart beating that this had to be something that drew us closer together and closer to God, or what was the point in the suffering? I had to allow myself to need my friends and family, even though it was really hard at times. I saw all of those people coming together to surround us in prayer, fill our refrigerator, care for Noelle, and help me grieve, and it reminded me that I was not alone.

I have always believed that it is best to share my struggles openly instead of keeping them locked away, and many times people have thanked me for my candor. They often open up themselves afterward, and a depth is added to our friendship that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. When I read the part of the definition of celebration that said, "to make known publicly; proclaim," my first thought was of my committment to claim Charlotte as my child to everyone I meet. I don't often let an opportunity pass me by to say that I have another daughter. Noelle knows her sister's name, and knows that she is in heaven. Every time I share her story, I am celebrating her existence, her role in my life. I am thankful to her for teaching me about reliance on God and others, and for giving me an opportunity to build deeper relationships with those in my community. Happy Birthday, Charlotte Mae Matthews. Your mommy loves you and will be with you again someday.
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Thank you for sharing! I personally am very thankful for your openness and willingness to be honest about your struggles. I'm sure that was a hard day, but I'm glad you were able to celebrate and remember her. And happy anniversary!! Can't wait to meet New Baby Matthews :)

Tiana - June 02, 2008 02:02 pm

What a great tribute to Charlotte! I continue to be amazed at your wonderful talent for putting things into words. I thank God everyday for bringing you into our lives through Andy. We are blessed to have you as a daughter in-law and the mother of our grandchildren! Happy 5th to you and Andy.

Carol - June 04, 2008 03:43 am

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Happy Fifth baby!
on May 24 2008 at 03:12 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy, Jaime
No no...not our fifth baby. Maybe that should have read "Happy Fifth, Baby", as in Happy 5th Anniversary? That's right...Jaime and I are coming up on the 5th anniversary of our wedding day back in May of 2003. Hard to believe that it's been that long, yet it also seems like longer.

So we're currently sitting, well laying, on a bed in Louisville, Kentucky chilling. Watching a little TV, doing a little net surfing, and waiting for it to cool down before heading out to do some shopping, and some mini-golf, and then some dinner.

Tomorrow, we're driving up to Illinois to attend the wedding of one of the girls who was in OUR wedding. Then we head back to Nashville on Monday.

Lucky for us, my parents are watching Noelle for us while we take this short weekend to spend some time together. So, here's to you Jaime...5 years, then another 5, then ten, and then 20 more. If we're both still alive then, we can renegotiate.

Mwa.
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Brad and I have a 50 year contract. After that, we're renegotiating. We thought it sounded like a good idea when we got married :) Of course, Andy, since you're already 50, I'm not sure that you'll make it to 50 :)

Heather - May 24, 2008 02:45 pm

That's right. I'm going to be tanning myself on a beach in Hawaii on our 30th anniversary. I'll be 63 and wearing nothing but a smile and a Coppertone tan.

Andy Matthews - May 27, 2008 07:27 am

Wow! I'm glad that it's Jaime that you're married to!

Heather - May 28, 2008 08:23 am

He said he'd be tanning himself - and that's BY himself! He knows I'd never join him on that kind of outing. :)

Jaime Matthews - May 28, 2008 09:35 am

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Doing our part for the economy
on April 27 2008 at 05:15 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy, Family
Out of necessity, we've decided to start letting Noelle take naps every other day instead of every day. Over the past week or two she's been getting harder and harder to put down for a nap on a daily basis, but great the following day. So rather than put up with the whining and tantrum throwing from Jaime (haha), we'll just let her nap M-W-F-Sa, and give her some quiet time on the off days.

So since today is a "no nap day", we decided to go shopping right after church. It also happens to be "Tax free in Tennessee" weekend. Noelle and Jaime both need new clothing because they are both outgrowing what they have. Jaime because she's over 4 months pregnant, and Noelle because she's growing like a weed.

After church we drove down to Cool Springs which is a big shopping area. We decided to eat lunch first, at Schlotsky's Deli. I've only been there a few times, but this lunch was fantastic. Their ciabatta bread sandwiches and pizza were amazing. We shopped at a few places, ended up spending about $200, then came home exhausted. Shopping is hard work.
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Playing mommy & daddy against each other already?
on April 23 2008 at 08:17 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy, Jaime
Jaime and Noelle had a funny moment just now and I thought I'd share it. Noelle was in her room, in bed, while Jaime and I were in the living room. Noelle had pulled out her new underwear and put them on over her diaper, but then asked for "another pair". Jaime went in there to deal with her. As she was getting ready to leave the room, they had this conversational exchange:

Jaime: I'm not coming in here again.
Noelle: Okay, I call to Daddy.

That made Jaime and I both laugh because how smart is that? She realizes that she can at least attempt to play us off each other.
Comments :3: - View comments

Ah, yes... and so it begins! Jackson does this quite often these days as well. He likes to ask the same question of both of us, hoping for a different answer from the second. It's amazing how early they figure out how to get what they want! Miss you guys!

Jonathan - April 24, 2008 04:25 am

Katrina does this, too! She asked me to open a bag of snacks for her the other day, and when I said no, not now, she replied, "My Daddy open it!" Thankfully Ryan was in earshot and heard the exchange, although that doesn't always happen ... Scary, isn't it, how they learn things we never intentionally teach them?

Lexa Herbert - April 25, 2008 07:40 am

Boy did she learn from one of the best, many a times Andy went to Mom to get his way, but I guess that's why we love him so now and even then.

Dad - May 01, 2008 12:10 pm

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I have a new blog!
on April 11 2008 at 09:01 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
No no, don't worry...Andy&Jaime.com isn't going anywhere. But all of the coding and techy posts that I've been making over the last year or so are going to have a new home.

That's right...I purchased yet another domain name, but this one's really legit. It's my name Andy Matthews. At the moment, the only thing there is a splash page because I just bought the domain name last night, but give me a month or two and I'll have a blog there up and running.
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We need to have more posts, on this one as well as the new one.....we grandparents crave more news about the family..... love and kisses

mom - April 12, 2008 06:39 am

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It's pizza time
on April 03 2008 at 07:42 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
We made pizzas tonight...but not just any pizzas...they were tortilla pizzas and they couldn't be easier.

Take a large 10" flour tortilla, spread some spaghetti sauce on it. Sprinkle cheese over the sauce, then add your favorite toppings. We used pepperoni on one, and sliced red peppers and bacon on the other. Sprinkle some dried italian herbs over the toppings, cover with more cheese, and then bake in the oven at 450 for about 12-15 minutes.

If you're lucky, the edges will get nice and crispy but the middle will still be a little soft and chewy. They were very good, and cost maybe $2 apiece.

The best part was that Noelle helped me make them! She stood on her learning tower and helped me sprinkle cheese, and put on pepperoni (ate more than she put on of course), but it was a fun time.
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Be on the lookout...
on March 22 2008 at 01:50 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
Click to see a larger photo for the "Cutie-bomber". She is considered cute, hip, and will charm you with her smile and friendliness.

We went to the playground yesterday and Noelle introduced herself to another little girl by saying "This is Noelle." I've heard her say it before, but never realized where she got it from until yesterday. When Jaime and I are with Noelle and we meet someone for the first time, we introduce Noelle by saying "this is Noelle".

Makes perfect sense doesn't it?
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Noelle isn't just a parrot...
on January 24 2008 at 08:39 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
And hasn't been for quite a while. But just because she can speak well, doesn't mean that she can carry on a conversation. Or at least that's what I thought until I talked with her on the phone last week. I got a call from Jaime early one afternoon, "There's a little girl here who would like to talk to her Daddy."

So Noelle gets the phone and we proceed to have a real conversation...for real. I asked her a few questions bout what she had done that day. "Did you go to school Noelle? Yes. What did you do at school? I saw Lola. Did you eat lunch today? Yes. What did you eat? I had pickles...and...carrots...and hot dog...and pears."

At that point I started laughing, but only to cover up my amazement. I've known that Noelle's verbal skills were far in advance of many other kids her age. but up until that day I had really treated Noelle as more of a talking parrot. I'd ask her to repeat words that I said, I'd ask her basic questions, and I'd try to get her to tell me what things were on flash cards, or in books. But now I realize that my little girl really is growing up. She's not only carrying on conversations, she makes up stuff on her own. She's using logic, she's saying funny things, and she's even lying.

Anyway...I just wanted to brag on my little girl. She might not have as much hair as other kids her age, or even HALF her age, but she can talk circles around them...and she's MUCH cuter.
Comments :2: - View comments

You know, Noelle is pretty cute, although I think that mine is just as cute. I was thinking that it will be weird when Noelle has a lot of hair and gets ponytails, etc. I can't even picture it! Someday, though....

Heather - January 24, 2008 07:38 pm

I can remember a few years back, yes a few year and I can remember that far back, a little boy was doing about the same thing and boy what a proud Dad I was, so I know exactly what you are going through now. I love you all 4.

Pappaw - January 25, 2008 11:56 am

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We're getting the band back together!
on January 01 2008 at 01:03 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy, Friends
Yes, yes, I know it's been a long time since we made a post. Yes, I also know that we skipped right over Christmas in Florida with the Matthew's family, Noelle's birthday, and the grueling 13+ hour drives to and from Tampa.

We'll get to those, never fear. I'm coming to you with a story of a scrappy rock band named "Assh@t" that was founded this evening deep in Old Hickory, Tennessee. What's that you say? "What" hat? Founded where? I'm talking about Rock Band, the video game for the XBOX 360 which allows up to 4 people to play "musical instruments" simultaneously. Assh@t? That was our band name.

Maybe I should start at the beginning. Today my boss mentioned that he was going over to the house of a mutual friend of ours to hang out and play Rock Band. Now I've been reading lots about this game, and it's parent, the monster hit Guitar Hero, but I've never had the chance to play either. When I mentioned this to Aaron, he invited me to come over. I double checked with "the home office", got the necessary requisition forms and I was off.

It's quite enjoyable actually, but pretty tough. There are 4 available instruments: guitar, drums, bass, and surprisingly the microphone. Each instrument has it's own settings, difficulty level, and buttons (except for the mike). When a song starts up, you're presented with a train track looking thing. This represents the notes you'll have to play. On each instrument (again excepting the mike), are 5 notes, or in the case of the drums 5 drum pads. As the song progresses, notes scroll towards you in the column representing the note you need to play on the instrument.

Never fear, this isn't a note for note representation, nor could it be with only 5 notes to play. BUT it is enough to give you a real feel for the song. And it's freaking awesome to play. I was able to cycle through all of the instruments tonight and liked each of them. The drums were the hardest due to the setup and the angle they were at, plus I've never played drums. I have played guitar, bass, and I sing so that's not too bad. Out of all of them I had the most fun with the guitar and the bass. They actually make Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii and I'd like to pick that up after I finish off 2 games I'm playing now.

So, until the Assh@t reunion tour, I'll see you guys later. I'll leave you with this screenshot of Rock Band in action.
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I recieved Guitar Hero for Christmas from my husband. When we held the Christmas staff party for his company someone brought it. I played it, loved it, and wondered why we didnt own it. I can't wait to try rock band. Love your site.

Zoe - January 02, 2008 05:17 am

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Christmas in...er....December!
on December 14 2007 at 12:08 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy, Family
We're traveling down to Tampa for Christmas this year. It's going to be great having all that time with my parents. Plus Noelle is changing and growing at an almost daily pace now. I can't wait for my mom and dad to see her and talk to her.

The good thing is that we'll get to spend almost a week with my parents in Brandon. The drawback? Not getting to see Jaime's family on one of the more special days of the year.

So, rather than not get to see us on the 25th, Dean and Diane are driving to Nashville to see us THIS weekend! They're already on the road, and should be arriving sometime this evening. It'll be nice because with this being Noelle's first Christmas (that she'll actually "get"), they'd miss a lot otherwise.

So bring it on! We can't want to see them and spend time with them.
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How great can that be. Dean & Diana, I'm glad that you will have the fortune to be with them. I can not tell you how much it meant to us to be able to be with you all and I'm sorry it didn't work out that we could all be together again this year. I wish you all a very Mery Christmas and son, looking forward to see your family here with us this year.

Dad in Brandon - December 14, 2007 01:23 pm

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A Mess of a Day
on November 30 2007 at 07:52 PM by: Jaime Matthews
File under: Andy, Jaime
Today was the closing of our mortgage refinancing (yay!), and since we met Andy halfway then went out to dinner, he hadn't been home until we all came in together this evening. He walked in the kitchen and said, "What's up with the counter?" I was still in the office, so at first I didn't know what he was talking about. Then I remembered that it was a complete disaster of groceries, mail, dishes, etc. that I just hadn't had time to deal with that afternoon before Noelle and I left.

I told him hey, at least it's unusual enough for it to be such a mess that you had to ask what happened. It reminded me of that cartoon where the house is a wreck and the mom is laying in bed while the kids go crazy, and the husband asks what happened. She says "You know how you ask me what I do all day? Well today I didn't do it."

Another mess today was during Noelle's nap, when I heard her say "I need to wash my fingers" and went in to see removed pants and diaper, and, well, you can guess the rest. She did sweetly say "thank you, Mommy" as I was changing her sheets, but I was still disgusted. And that's why I didn't get around to cleaning off the counter!
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Back from thanksgiving, and boy am I giving thanks!
on November 26 2007 at 09:52 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
Jaime, Noelle, and I travelled up to Northern Illinois for the Thanksgiving break. We left Wed afternoon at 4:20pm and didn't arrive in New Lenox (where her parents live) until 1:30am. That's right...we were on the road for over 9 hours...for something that should only be a 8 hour trip max!

Our time in New Lenox was great though. We had a great time with family, and friends, Jaime and I spent some time with fellow Whiskerino-ians Chad (monkey boy), and Tony (hey Zeus), and we ate lots of good food. And then it came time to drive home.

While the trip back to Nashville went FAR better than the trip UP, it was still excruciating. I love road trips, but lately my knees have been giving me grief, and on long trips where I can't stretch out my legs, it's tough. Not to mention having an almost 2 year old in the car.

We made it back though, and in good time (left at 12:30, got back around 9:00). So I'm back at work, and giving thanks for not having to drive again for another few weeks.

Oh, and we're DEFINITELY buying a portable DVD player for Noelle before we make the trip to Florida for Christmas.
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We have a DVD player for the car if you want us to send it to you. It even has dual screens. LUVU

Mom - November 26, 2007 08:04 pm

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Daylight Savings Time visits the Matthews Household
on November 07 2007 at 02:50 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Noelle Jordan, Andy
Twice every year the United States, and many other countries around the world, perform a ritual dating all the way back to the ancient Romans (that's even older than my parents). This practice, known alternately as Daylight Savings Time (DST) in the US, "summer time" in the United Kingdom, requires us to adjust our clocks forwards or backwards one hour depending on the time of year.

"Spring forward, fall back" has become a common mantra for those of us who have difficulty remembering which way is which. In spring and the summer we get an extra hour of daylight in the evenings, while in the fall and winter months, it gets dark as early as 5pm (here in Nashville at least). While this can be a good thing during the summer months, it really can play havoc with us in the winter. There's a 4X higher incidents of traffic accidents in the fall/winter, farmers have less time in the fields, and my daughter Noelle wakes up one whole hour earlier than normal.

You heard me. We finally got her trained to sleep through the night (only took us 16 months). Then we finally got her to start waking up sometime around 7pm reliably and now the US government perpetrates this on us? She's woken up earlier than 6:30 every morning since DST went into effect. Now mind you, I enjoy spending time with Noelle, especially since she's getting a personality, and I can interact with her. But when you're used to sleeping in until around 7, waking up an hour early is a jarring thing.

Also, in addition to her early rising habits these days, she's learned how to take off her pajamas. That's added an entirely new suite of things that could greet me when I walk into her room in the morning. For example, twice so far this week I've heard her talking to herself saying "my zip, my...zip". This is a bad sign as it means she's managed to unzip her pajamas to some degree or another. Usually she's only gotten the zipper down to her foot, but it seems she's learned how to completely take her pajamas off. What do I see when I walk in but a mostly naked baby with a diaper that's half off. Luckily it was just a wet diaper or I would have started off the day with a bath.

Anyway, just wanted to share with you the joys of parenthood and children who are early risers.
Comments :6: - View comments

So your little Houdini is now getting out of her PJ's.....At least she hasn't taken her diaper off with the PJ's. I agree about DST...I hate that it is not dark right after I get home, or before.

Mom - November 07, 2007 02:10 pm

She may not have taken the diaper off completely, but the half off she's mastered could do damage as well! Andy neglected to mention what was all over Noelle's hands this morning.

Jaime Matthews - November 07, 2007 03:01 pm

Yeah...actually decided not to mention it. But Noelle had poop on her hands this morning. She apparently reached down the back of her diaper and got it on her fingers.

Andy - November 07, 2007 03:41 pm

YUCK!!! Good luck with that situation. I don't have any words of wisdom on that, hopefully just the smell would discourage her from doing it again.

mom - November 08, 2007 05:44 am

I seem to remember that happening with a little girl that lived in my house.

Mom B - November 08, 2007 07:03 am

Well, she definitely didn't like it. She was holding her hands away from her like she didn't even want them to be attached to her. But then again, this is the second time she's done that so who knows. She kept saying "look daddy, what IS it?".

Andy - November 08, 2007 07:03 am

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Let the time of the bearding now commence!
on November 01 2007 at 12:44 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
Click to see a larger photo Those of you who've followed our website for at least two years know that I participate in a bi-yearly male bonding ritual known as Whiskerino. On the surface, it claims to be a "beard contest", but at it's core, Whiskerino is a celebration of masculinity, a chance to be "a dude", a way to "stick it to the man" (for those participants who work in the corporate world), and finally it's a way to avoid shaving for an entire FOUR MONTH period of time.

This will be my 3rd Whiskerino and I've been looking forward to this since the close of the last. You can see what I ended up with on Feb 28, 2006, as well as see all of the pictures I took during those 4 months. You can follow my progress during this year's contest if you like.

On a more serious note, I'm planning on using Whiskerino2007 to begin working on a personal goal as well. I'm a big guy, anyone who's seen me can attest to that. But over the past 5 or 6 years, I've been letting myself get too lax in my physical well-being. Part of the problem is that I sit at a computer for 8+ hours a day, the other part is that I eat too much. I'm just thankful that I have a good metabolism or I'd weight a lot more than I do now. Anyway, I want to lose weight, but more importantly I want to get in shape...to be able to walk uphill with Noelle without stripping the bark off trees because of my huffing and puffing.

So, bring on the beard, bring on the exercise, bring on the low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, high-fiber diet, bring on the absence of sodas. But most of all, bring on the support from my friends and family.
Comments :8: - View comments

I'm so tempted.

Richard McElroy - November 01, 2007 02:17 pm

Do it, Richard! Chad Griffin and Tony Mason are on there, too. All the cool kids are growing beards.

Jaime Matthews - November 01, 2007 07:14 pm

Sadly it might already be too late Richard. They appear to have already put a cap in place, right at 300.

Andy Matthews - November 02, 2007 07:17 am

Let the games begin!! You do soooooo need a beard to cover up that baby face...

Mom - November 02, 2007 11:42 am

Your Mom did and so can you, go for and keep it up.

Dad - November 02, 2007 12:26 pm

Mom grew a beard? I'd say she should join the contest, except that it's already closed. And there are no girls allowed.

Andy Matthews - November 05, 2007 07:02 am

Rob and I have been talking and if it is closed then maybe we will have to do one on The Experience. Now if I could just convince Kari of the merit. . .

Richard McElroy - November 07, 2007 09:32 am

VERRY funny....about the beard and me... I think he was talking about the weight loss in the latter part of your post. We need to talk about that.

Mom - November 07, 2007 01:13 pm

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Noelle and the Giant Wooden Castle of Fun
on October 23 2007 at 09:45 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Noelle Jordan, Andy
A friend of mine, Daniel Isenhower, is moving out of town this week. Some his friends were having a going away party for he and his wife Lindsay. So I decided I wanted to go and wish him well in his journeys. Problem is that I planned my attendance when I thought Jaime and Noelle were going to be out of town. After I picked the two of them up from the airport, I realized that I had Noelle for the rest of the day (this past Sunday), but still wanted to go.

So I packed up Noelle and took off for Two Rivers park over by the Opryland area. When we arrived, there were just a few people hanging around under the park pavilion so I let Noelle down to play. That worked for a little while, but after about a half hour she got bored so we decided to walk over to the playground. The closer we got to the play area, the more excited I got. It looked REALLY cool, big wooden structures, with lots of kids.

Noelle was so eager to get in there, it was really cute. She ran all over the place, to the swings, to talk with other kids, it was great. My favorite parts though were when she started climbing up into the castle. It was full of little passageways, perfect for tiny little bodies. I even got a picture of Noelle peeking through the slats.

Anyway, we had lots of fun and she didn't want to leave. View the rest of the Two Rivers pictures.
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I love the pictures, especially the one of her looking through the slats....Reminds me of one of you looking through a fence. Sounds like Daddy and Papa need to build her a smaller version in your yard... Hummm!!??

mom - October 23, 2007 02:51 pm

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Why am I up at 1:30?
on October 21 2007 at 01:31 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
So why am I up and posting at 1:30 in the morning blasting Operation Ivy?

In part I suppose it's 'because I can', followed closely behind by 'because I'm painting the kitchen'. Jaime and Noelle are out of town right now so it doesn't matter how much noise I make, and I can technically go to sleep when I want, so why not do as much as possible to the kitchen while I can right?
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Loving my job!
on October 12 2007 at 08:14 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy, Coldfusion
I really love my job. I love almost everything about Dealerskins; from the people, to the work. What I love most about it is that I'm able to go to work everyday and do something that I love. There's not to many people that can say that.

One of the best things about Dealerskins is the open environment there. Just today I got to participate in an impromptu 30 minute hallway meeting with the our Director of Operations, our Product Manager, and the Development Manager (my boss, Aaron West) regarding the future of our Enterprise level company. I really feel like I'm respected and appreciated there, and that's such a shot of adrenaline in the arm that it makes me want to work all the more harder.

It's really cool because I get to be involved in almost every aspect of the lifecycle of our tools (or web applications as they're called in the biz). I get to help plan the project, then I get to write the code for it, and lastly (in some cases), I also get to be involved in rolling it out and seeing people use it!

I realize that I am truly blessed by God to have a career in a field that I love, doing work that I eagerly look forward to, with people that are great. That's a rare occurrence and I hope that it's not something that I take for granted. Thank you Lord!
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Chicago-land refugees
on September 29 2007 at 06:49 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy
So we're in Chicago...

We drove up last weekend for a wedding (Jaime was a bridesmaid). Since we had another wedding THIS weekend (Jaime's grandpa is getting married), we decided that Jaime and Noelle would stay here while I flew back to Nashville for to Nashville for the week.

MY week went okay, hanging out at home alone, mostly being bored, cooking for myself, and going to sleep at midnite or later. Jaime's week on the other hand was a little rougher. Even though she stayed with her parents and they both helped out with Noelle, it was tough. Noelle is apparently heading straight into the terrible twos and Jaime was the "catcher" for it this week.

I'm sure part of Noelle's behavior was compounded by the fact that she's out of her element, away from her normal routine and such. Hard to think of my darling little girl being a terror, but according to Jaime, she has been (at least a portion of the time). From throwing things, to disobeying, to being sick; my poor baby is just having a bad week.

Jaime's already informed me that I'm on duty from the minute Noelle wakes up which is fine for me. I missed both of them quite a lot and I'll be happy to see Noelle again
Comments :4: - View comments

Yes we had a ringside seat at the rehearsal dinner last night..the compact grandma gave Noelle went flying.. we remember those days and are praying for you guys lol Shes so adorable..love

Dan and Sandy - September 29, 2007 06:10 am

Hard to believe that the precious little angel would turn into a "devil in disguise".... oh, wait, who is her Daddy?? Well that explains it!! Just kidding, remember: "and this too shall pass"! LUVU

Grammy Carol - October 02, 2007 08:00 am

I don't know who you guys are, but I love this page and this site, it is so cute. I do know about the terrible two's, I have 3 boys and they all started their terrible twos at one and just kept going after that. It will get easier, but I never had a girl, so I don't know. I'm sure you two will do just fine.

Tibber - October 04, 2007 07:53 am

this is a test

andy matthews - October 05, 2007 01:33 pm

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I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like
on September 14 2007 at 08:23 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
Click to see a larger photo I'm so out of shape...wait...round is a shape right? It is, but it's not the shape I want for myself. So I've been thinking, and talking, more and more lately about getting in better shape. Mostly for my own good, but a lot for Noelle and Jaime too. I don't want to have a heart attack by age 36 or anything. Not to mention I don't want to end up as one of those guys that gets so fat that his loving wife has to sponge bathe him in bed because he no longer fits through the bedroom door.

But I digress...I've been wanting to get in shape, that's what I was talking about. So I've got a bicycle that's been sitting in the garage since Jaime and I got married. I've also wanted to start riding that more often. I thought it was a good idea to sort of combine those two desires, and add into the mix some time spent with Noelle. So I borrowed a tow-behind baby stroller, more like a rickshaw than anything else, and headed out to our local greenway.

Essentially a path through protected marshland, it's a paved trail that winds it's way through grassland and forests right next to the Cumberland river. All total I think the trail is about 6 or 7 miles long and it's very peaceful. Since this was my first time riding the bike in 4 years or so, I thought it wise to keep the workout to a minimum, and made it to the 1.5 mile marker before turning around.

The entire time Noelle was just talking to herself, talking to me, playing with her helmet, etc. I mostly sweated and panted. I made it back safely though. I'd really like to do this again, especially since it's finally starting to cool down. If I can do it regularly, even if it's only every few days, that'll help me out a lot. Who knows...I might even start to like it.
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Hey, I'm glad you don't want to be one of "those guys," but I could have done without the visual image of "I don't want to end up as one of those guys that gets so fat that his loving wife has to sponge bathe him in bed because he no longer fits through the bedroom door." Too funny!

Diana - September 15, 2007 01:11 pm

yes... make sure you get between the creases honey..LOL

Dan and Sandy - September 29, 2007 06:17 am

I know how you feel about the exercise thing. I need to do that myself. I feel rolly polly at times myself. I bought a bike about 2 years ago and I can say that I have rode it probably 3 times. The rest of the time it has been either sitting in the shed in my grandmothers backyard or now for the past several months been resting in my storage bin. Keep going and don't give up, you will do just fine and will drop the weight in no time. I think it was a great idea to borrow that so that you and your daughter can enjoy some time together, good call.

Tibber - October 04, 2007 08:03 am

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Comments now available...
on August 25 2007 at 10:33 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
Just wanted to let everyone know that you can now make comments on each post. If you have something you'd like to say to Jaime, or Noelle, or I. Just click the "Add comments" button below each post.

That is all
Comments :4: - View comments

Fun!!

Diana - August 26, 2007 11:31 am

Yeah...I thought that it was about time we allowed our friends and family to speak their minds.

Andy Matthews - August 26, 2007 02:04 pm

Finally, a place to comment. Great idea kiddo. By the way, you do need to Blog more than once or twice a month. Don't you know it is the parents lifeline to what is going on... Love you, See you on Friday. Noelle, Grammy loves you!!

Mom - August 26, 2007 04:17 pm

Yeah, we knew it would just be Nana and Grammy commenting though! Haha.

Jaime Matthews - August 27, 2007 04:04 pm

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"I love you Daddy"
on August 23 2007 at 07:13 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
Is there any other phrase on God's green earth which can so easily melt the hearts of Daddys? Noelle doesn't say it all that often, but when she does I feel this shiver run through my body and I receive just the smallest glimpse of what it must be like when we tell God we love him.
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Nothing quite like the first time your child says those wonderful words....I Love You. You and Jaime are Blessed!

Grammy - August 26, 2007 04:19 pm

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Remember that for next time.
on July 05 2007 at 08:03 PM by: Jaime Matthews
File under: Andy
So you read yesterday about Andy being sick, and he really was. He doesn't get sick very often, but when he does it tends to be pretty bad. I was glad to take care of him, though, especially since I don't get the opportunity to very often. And as an added bonus, I think he got a few glimpses into what it's like to be me.

He told me that the worst feeling was when he felt like he might throw up at any minute, when your throat gets tight and you can just sense that something is going to happen. And I said, "Yeah, that's how I felt for THREE MONTHS STRAIGHT while I was pregnant with Noelle, and for about a month with Charlotte." Remember that feeling next time I get pregnant, and maybe you will sympathize a little better.

Next, he was sore from all the vomiting and whatnot, and just wiped out from being sick, and he said that now he understands why I wanted to be in bed all the time. Remember that for next time.

And finally, he was laying on the couch and I had set my empty salad bowl with a little bit of Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing still in it on the side table. After about 15 minutes he asked me if I could take it in the kitchen, because for some reason the smell was bothering him. I took this opportunity as well to inform him that he has now experienced yet another wacky symptom that comes with my pregnancies.

So, hopefully he remembers all of those things for next time and is a lot more understanding of what I go through to carry our children. Too bad he'll never experience anything CLOSE to labor.
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The salad bar lets me down...
on July 04 2007 at 07:37 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy
So I went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's with my coworkers yesterday. Part celebratory lunch (we just hired a new guy), part strategy meeting. I had the hamburger with a side salad bar. It was very tasty and I thought nothing of it until about 3 hours later when I got home.

I started feeling bad, laid down on the couch, feel asleep. Then woke up and made a BEELINE for the bathroom where I spent what was left of the night. Multiple toilet sessions later, I was able to go to sleep, until the middle of the night when I had to make yet another beeline for the bathroom.

So I woke up this morning and all is mostly well except I've been feeling nauseated all day, plus I feel like I've been worked over by Mohammed Ali. So, the only thing that I can think of is that I got food poisoning from something I ate on the salad bar. Jaime, the intrepid web search that she is, found a listing on emedicinehealth.com about food poisoning and it sounds like it's one of these two:

Norwalk virus: Causes a mild illness with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, and low?grade fever. These symptoms usually resolve in two to three days. It is the most common viral cause of adult food poisoning and is transmitted from water, shellfish, and vegetables contaminated by feces, as well as from person to person.

Rotavirus: Causes moderate to severe illness with vomiting followed by watery diarrhea and fever. It is the most common cause of food poisoning in infants and children and is transmitted from person to person by fecal contamination of food and shared play areas.

I feel like crap...hope it goes away soon...
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Happy Father's Day!
on June 17 2007 at 08:39 AM by: Jaime Matthews
File under: Andy, Charlotte Mae
Click to see a larger photo I took this picture yesterday at the fountains, and I printed it out and framed it for Andy to put on his desk at work. They had such a great time together at the fountains, running all over the place and climbing every stair they had. I love watching Andy and Noelle together. Sometimes the things he does with her make me cringe, like hanging her upside down by her feet, throwing her too high in the air for my comfort, or wrestling around with her on the floor, but I know those things are important for her, too. And more often, he is gentle and caring in a way that only a child could bring out in a person.

Andy is constantly amazed by Noelle and lets her know it. He tells her that he loves her multiple times every day, and shows her by all the little things he does. He gets up with her every weekday morning and changes her, feeds her breakfast, and plays with her before he gets ready for work. She loves to watch his car leave the driveway in the morning, and she asks about Daddy several times throughout each day. The look in her eyes when she hears his car pull into the driveway at the end of the day, and when he comes into the house after work, is one of pure excitement and joy.

I can tell that Andy loves his role as Daddy, and he is really good at it. Usually. Haha. All dads have their moments, right? Things they do or forget to do that a mom would do "better." But even if he forgets her sippy cup or an extra diaper, or feeds her chips and salsa for breakfast, or lets her run around naked and pee on the floor, I know how important it is for Noelle to have him in her life, doing things exactly the way he does them.

I really miss Charlotte today. Andy was telling Noelle this morning that she is one of the reasons that he is celebrating today, along with the other babies that are waiting to be in mommy's belly. And her sister that should have been with us still today, but will only know her Heavenly Father, not her earthly one. Of course, even the perfect earthly father cannot compare to the way God loves and cares for His children, but I still wish Charlotte could have known her Daddy. She would have loved him as much as Noelle, I'm sure of it.
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testin
on April 22 2007 at 08:58 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy
Click to see a larger photo just testing yo
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Naked day is over...
on April 06 2007 at 06:22 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
move along...nothing to see here.
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It's NAKED day!!!
on April 05 2007 at 06:55 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy, Web finds
CSS naked day that is. That's why our website looks the way it does right now. For those of you that don't know what CSS is, here's a description in 2 sentences.

CSS is a set of instructions which describe how a website looks. It offers nothing in the way of structure, it's only for appearance.
In the past, websites were thrown together with lots of hacks, bad code, and more importantly incorrectly USED code. Web standards, recommend separating your structural code (the HTML that so many of you kids know about these days), from the presentational code (the aforementioned CSS). When this is done correctly, the benefits are many.

So enjoy my nakedness for a day...it won't happen again until next year...or until I next take a shower.
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Another baby? Why didn't anyone tell ME about this?
on April 04 2007 at 07:58 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy, Family
Jaime's pregnant??? Why didn't anyone tell ME? I have to find out about it by reading our blog?

Just kidding of course, but how funny would that have been? Or should I say how pathetic would that have been? Anyway, how cool is this? We're going to have another baby, and we're blessed that it happens to fit into our planned goal of one baby every 2 years or so?

Jaime and I have talked quite a lot and we want our children to be as close in age as possible so that they can at least have the chance to be friends. We're shooting for 2 of each (boy and girl) so for the next 2 (this one included) we don't really care about the gender.

Names you say? Well, we've briefly discussed names for this child, but we haven't delved into it yet. We decided to give all the leftover names we had from last time a "bye" to the second round. So, now that we're blogging quite a bit more, maybe we'll have a poll and let you all help us decide.
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Hands, feet, lips and dancing
on February 27 2007 at 12:13 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy, Family
Yes yes, it's been quite some time since I posted, but I was washing my hair, or trimming the hedges or some such thing. I promise.

This time I'm coming at you with a touching story about my baby daughter. She's 14 months old now and learning new things every day and I am truly amazed and humbled at this precious gift in our midst. Here's a quick rundown of what she's doing lately, then I'll get to the good stuff.
? walking (that's right...full on walking)
? saying real words (up to about 20 or 30 I believe)
? giving kisses and hugs on request (when she's not distracted by something else)
? drinking out of a straw
? She knows her feet, hair, nose and eyes

Jaime and I were eating dinner with Noelle tonight and Jaime decided to play with Noelle by blowing in her face. She just thought that was the funniest thing and started cracking up. So of course Jaime did it a few more times, then as a joke, told Noelle to do it. Well, we've noticed that Noelle is a really good mimic and this time proved to be no exception. Noelle pursed her lips up and blew right back and Jaime. We both about died laughing, and I thought Jaime was going to spit out her drink. So Noelle can blow now...

The other story is really cute. I was reading her a book tonight called Two Hands, Two Feet. It's the story, in rhyme, of a typical day for two little girls. As you might expect, they talk about hands and feet in this book. Remember earlier how I said Noelle knows her hands and feet? That comes into play soon. As I was reading this book, each time I would get to a word that she recognized ("stamp your feet"), she would move the appropriate part of her body. When the story mentioned dancing, she shook her whole body.

Those of you that don't have children just can't understand the feeling you get when you watch your child walk, or talk, or dance, or laugh. It's the most amazing thing and each time I see it, I still get shivers thinking about the trust that God had in me that he would give me this person to care for. Thanks for letting me share.
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Joining the ranks of the technorati
on January 27 2007 at 08:06 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
I recently found this website called Technorati that helps track people with blogs. I figured that I'd sign up and see just what it does. If you happen upon this post and are interested, why not click that link up above and see where it takes you?
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My pilgrimage for....Toast???
on January 18 2007 at 04:29 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
Click to see a larger photo About a year or two ago, I was watching Food TV and one of the shows was about breakfast food. They featured a little bistro-style restaurant called Toast, located in downtown Chicago. They raved about the french toast (freedom toast?) and showed how they made it. Since Jaime's family only lives an hour from Chicago, I knew that I HAD to check this place out.

A few weeks before our next Chicago trip I told Jaime that I wanted to go this place. Admittedly it IS pretty far out of the way, but still...French toast the size of your HEAD (check the picture if you don't believe me)!!! She told me "not this time, maybe the next time." And she KEPT saying this through the next 4 trips to Chicago. Finally ovet this last Christmas break, since we were going to be in Illinois for nearly a week, I put my foot down and said "I'm going".

Luckily, my parents came up to Chicago to celebrate Christmas (and Noelle's birthday) and they were arriving via Midway which is just a hop away from downtown. Jaime wasn't feeling well so she stayed home and my parents and I made the trip to Toast.

Anyway, so we journeyed into downtown Chicago which was awesome in and of itself. But the pinnacle of the trip was of course Toast. We had hardly any wait at all (which was uncommon from what the wait staff said). We looked at what was on the plates of our fellow diners and decided that instead of each of us ordering something, we'd order 4 or 5 things and share them all.

And let me tell you that it's a good thing we did. The French Toast alone was a meal for two. We decided on an order of French Toast stuffed with marscapone cheese, an order of Applewood smoked, Gouda stuffed sausages, some scrambled eggs and a nice big bowl of fruit. We all ate until we were full and it was the perfect amount. The french toast was absolutely amazing and the sausage was the best I've ever had. I'm no food critic, but I know what I like and this was by FAR worth the trip. Click the link below to see some more pictures from Toast.
Check the link
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Why won't our devil child sleep???
on January 12 2007 at 01:22 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Noelle Jordan, Andy
Click to see a larger photo So...

Our child doesn't sleep. I know that sounds strange coming from the parents of an almost 13 month old but it's true. She exhibits all of the signs of BEING sleepy, but she just refuses to surrender to the soft embrace of her pillow and blankets. She must get her stubbornness from Jaime.

I would say that it's affecting our relationship with her, and that it's also affecting the relaionship between Jaime and I but that would be an understatement. I'll give her the first 6 months as being a "normal baby" but anything after that is just sheer spite on her part.

We need to do something but we both feel so beat down that it's difficult to bring ourselves to try something new when everything else has failed...and all the while Noelle keeps waking up crying/screaming/sobbing. Did I mention that she woke up 6 times last night from around 8pm to this morning at 6:30am (not counting her morning wakey-wakey)?

To top it all off, we've decided that we're going to have to get a new pediatrician. We've been trying to explain the severity of her sleeplessness to our guy, Doctor Haraf, for the past 5 or 6 months. Each time we do, he basically tells us to give her a pacifier of some sort (bottle, binky or lovey) but she doesn't take any of those. He then offers up a charming story of how his best friend's child was having trouble sleeping.

He explains that his friend's child was not sleeping and how the friend and the friend's wife tried everything. So finally Frank (our doc) and his friend decided to let the child "cry it out". Basically they kicked out the wife and ate pizza, played playstation and let the baby girl cry; several times so long and hard that she vomited. They would then clean her off and start their day. But hey...after only nine days she was "cured". I won't comment on the cry it out method, but I think that if you're letting your child cry so hard that they vomit, MULTIPLE TIMES, then there's a larger issue.

Anyway...that's quite a rant. We don't want to let Noelle cry it out. Partly because we don't agree with that method, partly because we think that she's too stubborn and that it wouldn't work. Hopefully we can find a method that works for us before you see one (or both) of us on the front page of the local paper.
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Scary Mary...Mary Poppins as a horror film and other re-edits
on December 06 2006 at 09:48 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
Over the past year or so, clever webizens have pulled recordings of their favorite movies and re-edited them into something they were never intended to be. For example, Mary Poppins as a horror movie:


Or Titanic as a suspenseful thriller:


Or even better, The Shining as a romantic comedy:
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Get out and VOTE!
on November 07 2006 at 06:44 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
Click to see a larger photo Just a little reminder, that if you're reading this before the polls close, there's still time for you to get out and exercise your constitutional right to vote for the people who represent you.

I know that some of you might choose not to vote for various reasons, and I respect your right to make that choice. I feel, though, that choosing not to vote is a cop-out. Let me list the reasons you might not vote:
+ I don't like any of the candidates
+ I don't care enough about the issues
+ My vote won't count
In my opinion though, there is never a good reason not to vote.

So get out there and vote, or let other people decide your life for you.
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My first website post via email
on October 31 2006 at 02:14 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
That's right... Usually Jaime and I add posts to our site via an elaborate admin section that I built. But this post was added via my new "email post" method. It's more of a proof-of-concept than something that will get used often, but heck. I'm a guy, I'm a programmer, and I like building new things. So I took the time to write this extra setup just because.
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everything looks better in black and white...
on October 07 2006 at 09:03 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
Click to see a larger photo Jaime took a great picture of Noelle kneeling against the plate glass window facing the street. The minute I saw this picture I knew I had to have it as a wallpaper for my computer. It was good just as it was, but I wanted to see if I could improve upon her shot. So I took the image into Photoshop and did some trickery and this is what I came up with.

If you'd like to download this picture for YOUR wallpaper, click here. Hope you like it.
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The littlest superstar
on September 25 2006 at 11:27 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: Andy, Web finds
I give you the "littlest superstar".
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The aftermath of family events
on September 12 2006 at 11:13 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Noelle Jordan, Andy, Jaime, Friends, Family
Click to see a larger photo Noelle is officially baptized. For those of you who don't know what infant baptism is, here's what the Presbyterian church believes about the topic along with a brief synopsis.
Both believers and their children are included in God's covenant love. Children of believers are to be baptized without undue delay, but without undue haste. Baptism, whether administered to those who profess their faith or to those presented for Baptism as children, is one and the same Sacrament. The Baptism of children witnesses to the truth that God's love claims people before they are able to respond in faith. (Book of Order W-2.3008)

Baptism, therefore, usually occurs during infancy, though a person may be baptized at any age. Parents bring their baby to church, where they publicly declare their desire that he or she be baptized. When an infant or child is baptized the church commits itself to nurture the child in faith. When adults are baptized they make a public profession of faith.

Baptism distinguishes children of those who believe in God's redemptive power from children of nonbelievers. The water that is used symbolizes three accounts from the Bible's Old Testament: the waters of creation, the flood described in the story of Noah, and the Hebrews' escape from slavery in Egypt by crossing the Red Sea. All three stories link humanity to God's goodness through water.
So we baptized Noelle, not so that she's "saved", but so that we declare before God that we want her to be set apart.

Anyway, it went really well, one of the people involved in the ceremony said that she was one of the best babies they'd had on stage in months. Yay Noelle. She was absolutely adorable and even reach out for the Carter Crenshaw (our pastor) several times.

We had a great time with family and friends this past weekend, but we're glad to be back to our normal routine. Thanks to everyone who came to Nashville this weekend and made this such a special occasion for us, and for Noelle.
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Baptisms and Baklava
on September 06 2006 at 03:44 AM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Noelle Jordan, Andy, Jaime
Greetings! We wanted to let you know about two things happening this coming weekend that you are invited to be a part of.

First, the annual Greek Festival is this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox church, 4905 Franklin Pike. We plan on going Saturday night (Sept. 9) around 5 PM. We hope to see you there! Let us know if you plan on going and we'll look for you in the crowd. http://www.holytrinitynashville.org/GreekFestival2006.dsp

Second, Noelle will be baptized this Sunday (Sept. 10) during the second service at West End Community Church. We'd love to have you come sit stage left in the sanctuary during the service.

Hope to see you this weekend!

Jaime, Andy and Noelle
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This week on 24...
on August 25 2006 at 12:11 PM by: Andy Matthews
File under: General, Andy
Click to see a larger photo So Jaime and I have gotten completely hooked on Fox's 24 with Kiefer Sutherland. We alternate between nail-biting suspense and total irritation at some of the character traits of the people on the show. Don't even get me started on Sherry Palmer, Chloe O'Brien or Kim Bauer.

Jaime found a list online a week or so ago that has some funny statements about Jack Bauer, the main character played by Kiefer Sutherland. Here's some of my favorites, in no particular order. Hope you find them as funny as Jaime and I did.

  • Jack Bauer is the only human in the world with the ability to make Chloe O'Brien drop the personality disorder and patch him through.
  • If everyone on "24" followed Jack Bauer's instructions, it would be called "12".
  • Jack Bauer does not get taken prisoner. He puts himself in a disadvantageous position so as to make his next several killings more dramatic.
  • If Jack Bauer's gun jams, it's because he wanted to beat you with it.
  • It's no use crying over spilt milk... unless that was Jack Bauer's milk. Oh you are so screwed.
  • Jack doesn't believe in Murphy's Law, only Bauer's Law: "Whatever CAN go wrong, WILL be resolved in a period of 24 hours."
  • Jack Bauer doesn't speak any foreign languages, but he can make any foreigner speak English in a matter of minutes.
  • Jack Bauer doesn't take fingerprints, he takes fingers.
  • Don't ever ask Jack Bauer what is going on. He'll explain in the car.
  • Explosions do not kill Jack Bauer, they just get stuff out of his way.
  • My husband doesn't wish he was Jack Bauer. He wishes I was Jack Bauer.
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    Me, J & AB
    on August 12 2006 at 06:22 PM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: General, Andy, Jaime
    Click to see a larger photo I've liked Good Eats ever since I saw the first episode. Yes, that's right...a cooking show, that I watch at least 3 or 4 times a week. I even SAVE episodes on our DVR so that I can rewatch them. Jaime likes the show too but she rolls her eyes when I rewatch episodes.

    So...imagine my surprise when a friend, who works at Opryland Hotel, posted a banner that he designed for a cooking seminar at the hotel, featuring none other than the host of Good Eats, Alton Brown.

    Now, I respect and admire Alton Brown for many reasons: he's funny, has a successful cooking show that not only demonstrates haute cuisine, but also explains, and focuses on, the nuts and bolts of what's happening when you pan fry something. Or the chemical reaction that takes place when you whip egg whites into meringue. Plus he gets to cook for a living.

    I made the decision to purchase tickets as soon as I could. So I immediately sprang into action, leaped up from my chair, then sat down puffing heavily. No, I decided instead...this deserved a phone call. Matt, (Guest) my best friend in the world, works at Opryland. I thought to myself, "maybe he could help me out?" And help me out he did, by providing me with a most EXCELLENT 50% discount. Which is good because the tickets were normally $60 apiece.

    Anyway. To make a long story even longer, Jaime and I spent 2 hours today watching Alton Brown deep fry a turkey (cooked in less than 40 minutes could you believe?). His trademark banter and witty repartee in place, Alton entertained a room of about 600+ people, all there to see him. Who knew that Good Eats was so popular?

    We had a great time and of course had to document the fact that we got to meet and speak to him for a brief moment. We even have the picture to prove it.

    at least we weren't the ones wearing the "Assman's Butt Rubb & Kiester Sauces" t-shirts.
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    The remains of a good, but scary looking meal
    on July 08 2006 at 09:29 PM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: General, Andy, Jaime
    Click to see a larger photo I watched an episode of Good Eats wherein Alton Brown, the host, spoke of cooking artichokes. Having only ever had artichokes in that tasty concoction known as Artichoke dip, I decided to follow his lead and cook a whole artichoke for dinner.

    A daunting process, I forged forward nonetheless. Stripping away the outer, somewhat brown leaves and cutting off the base, I boiled them in salted water until tender. While cooking, I prepared a dipping sauce of dijon mustard, mayo, cayenne, lemon juice and shredded parmesan cheese.

    Once they were done, Jaime and I drained them and set about eating them, leaf by leaf until we had nothing left but a pile of empty husks.

    All in all a satisfying meal, if a little scary looking. That hairy thing at the top is called the choke and is actually at the very center of the vegetable, right above the heart. Don't try to eat it, you'll poke yourself as it's sharp and pointy.
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    Sick Day Hijinks
    on June 20 2006 at 12:00 PM by: Jaime Matthews
    File under: Andy
    Click to see a larger photo We all took a sick day yesterday, although that looks a lot different when your day job is taking care of a baby. There will never be another regular old "sick day" from work like I used to have. I have to get out of bed to feed, change, and entertain my daughter at least part of the day!

    I was grateful to have Andy home with us, because he actually took care of her most of the day, and I could rest and get better. I was pretty out of it most of Sunday and yesterday, ending with a fever of 100.7 last night. I'm feeling much better today. Coughing, stuffy nose and all that are still here, but I can deal with that. Andy is back at work, too.

    To entertain himself in his sick state yesterday, Andy decided to put Noelle in the laundry basket that I was trying to carry out to the garage. It was pretty cute. That's what I get for trying to do chores while we're sick.
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    We've got the ick!
    on June 19 2006 at 10:54 AM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy, Jaime
    So the whole Matthews household has the plague. If it gets any worse we're going to have to burn our bedding and make sure that any household rats don't get out into the general population.

    Okay, okay. So it's not quite that bad, but I've got a stuffed up nose, sore throat and I'm tired, Jaime's miserable and just about useless from the drugs and Noelle won't sleep hardly at all (which just contributes to the general sickness around the house).

    I used to the be the sort of person that would go into work no matter what, because I didn't want to be one of those people who stayed home because they "stubbed their toe" or something. But over the past few years I've recognized the value in staying home to both rest AND take myself out of circulation.

    At ICGLink, my current job, my co-workers and I work in really close proximity to each other which means that anything I get, they'll get, and vice versa. So today, I stayed home for me and for them. That's right...ever so noble...that's me.
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    What a difference a week or two makes...
    on June 14 2006 at 09:14 AM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: General, Noelle Jordan, Andy, Jaime
    Click to see a larger photo We went down to Tampa this past weekend to visit my parents. My dad hasn't seen Noelle in person since she was born, and it's been at least 3 months since my mom has seen her. Needless to say they were overjoyed and ecstatic for us to be down in Tampa. Not only did they get to spend time with the favorite only granddaughter, they got to show her off to everyone they knew...including the mailman (okay, not really but I was in the moment).

    Also, while we were in Tampa, I got a chance to show Jaime some of my old haunts, the site of the Jahva coffeehouse in Lakeland, University Mall, and more. We also had a chance to spend time with some of my old friends: Suze & Scott Meredith (haven't seen either of them in over 10 years) and Heath & Rebecca Kruse. What a great time it was.

    We also got to meet up with Jaime's mom's best friend Becky who lives in Lake Wales. The picture above was taken after eating dinner with Becky and her husband Bruce. Isn't it amazing? One of the better pictures of my two favorite ladies and Noelle has an amazing smile: she could be a doll.

    When we got back, we all almost collapsed we were so tired, but in a crowning moment I got to see Noelle roll over on her play mat. It's the first time for me and I think it bodes well for the future.

    Kids are great...and they grow up so fast.
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    3 Years Down, 58+ To Go
    on June 01 2006 at 04:16 PM by: Jaime Matthews
    File under: Andy, Jaime
    Yesterday was our 3 year wedding anniversary. When we first got married, I said something about Andy and I having 60+ years together, and he pretended to be upset at me limiting our future. I thought that the "plus" covered everything, but he wasn't satisfied. So, I changed it to 61+, and therefore we now have 58+ years to go. I mean, in 58 years Andy will be almost 94 years old. I know that healthcare is getting better all the time, but I think that's a pretty fair prediction.

    We celebrated yesterday by going out to dinner while our friend Robin watched Noelle. We were only gone for an hour and a half, but it was great to be just the two of us for a little bit. After we got home, we put Noelle to bed and watched a movie together. It wasn't the most "exciting" of evenings, but we were together, and that's all that really matters. I talked to Noelle yesterday about what it meant that we were having an anniversary, and how even on our wedding day she was a planned member of our family.

    We talked at dinner about how we feel like God has really blessed our marriage, with not only a friendship that grows deeper all the time, but great friends, good jobs, an amazing house, and a beautiful baby. We are so thankful for the life that God has given us and the future He has for our family.
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    My Husband, the Expert Programmer
    on May 04 2006 at 04:27 PM by: Jaime Matthews
    File under: Andy, Coldfusion
    Last fall, Andy took a ColdFusion Certification class taught by a friend here in Nashville. The purpose was to be trained and eventually take a test to become a certified developer. He could tell you more about it than I can, but here we are, 7 months later, and he finally took the test.

    He was a little worried about it, partially because the test covers more aspects of the program than he has ever used, but also because it's been a while since he took a test. He had been doing well on the practice tests, though, and I had full confidence in him.

    So, he went and took the test yesterday, and not only did he pass, but he came in at the expert level! I'm so proud of him! He said that he was going to write about it on here, and he probably will to give you more details, but I wanted to brag on him as well. I challenged him to at least schedule his test before we left for Chicago this weekend, and he greatly exceeded that challenge. Way to go, Andy!
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    Sharing family events via Google Calendar.
    on April 13 2006 at 03:17 PM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: Andy, Web finds
    Google...how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
    - Your blindingly fast, efficient search engine.
    - Your map software, which makes everyone else look like a bunch of bumbling amatuers
    - Your desktop software, which, even though I don't use it, is amazing and useful.
    - Your drive to make the internet a better, and more fun place.
    - And yet another reason: Google Calendar.

    Just released, Google's calendaring software offers a web-based way of keeping track of one person's (or many people's) events and happenings. I haven't had a chance to use this very much. It just launched last night so it's SUPER slow from all of the people trying to access it. But what I've seen is quite inspiring.

    The default display shows a standard 1m through 12pm event calendar. Buttons at the top allow you to change your current view from day, to week, to month. Clicking anywhere in the grid pops open a window for that date/time, allows you to name your event and even gives you the option of setting alerts for said events.

    Once you save the event, your current view will show a solid block of color indicating the duration of that event. I haven't had a chance to do much more than that but I can see this being HIGHLY useful for families on the go. I'm constantly asking Jaime what's going on for a certain day. With this website, I can simply check myself and not bother her. I can also look over "our" schedule for the next week, month, etc.

    Supposedly it's even got a way to make your events public. I assume this might mean you can share events between other Google account holders. A perfect example would be that Jaime and I are traveling to both Illinois and Florida in the coming months. We could put these trips on our calendar and our families could see when we'll be in town or out.

    I don't know about you but I'm voting Google for El Presidente in 2008!
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    Take Me Out to the Ball Game
    on April 11 2006 at 10:43 PM by: Jaime Matthews
    File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
    Click to see a larger photo Andy had his first softball game of the season tonight. He plays with a team from our church in a local league, and this is his third year playing. He has a great time, and it gives him some good exercise. He also usually injures himself at least once during the season. Tonight he slid into home base (and scored a run!) and ended up with some major scratches and what will probably turn into a nice bruise on his thigh. Ouch. The things guys do for sports.

    The game was early enough tonight that Noelle got to attend. I walked her around the park to show her the layout, and then we settled in to watch her Daddy play. She didn't pay a lot of attention to the game, but she was very curious about where we were. Here's a picture we took of Noelle and her Daddy after the game.
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    Great Coldfusion resources
    on April 11 2006 at 01:18 PM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: Andy, Coldfusion
    Those of you that know me, know that I'm in love with a web-based programming language called ColdFusion. It's elegant, streamlined and very powerful. It's not quite as widely-used as other languages like PHP or ASP and one of the reasons why, in my opinion, is the lack of open-source (free) applications.

    It seems as it in the past few months, many programmers have been remedying that issue. Coldfusion programmer Brian Rinaldi has compiled an exhaustive list of Free and open-source applications and all of them are written using Coldfusion.

    Anyway, here's a tiny list of sites I've found that are very useful for Coldfusion programmers. Enjoy!

    Brian Rinaldi's blog
    Ray Camden's blog
    CFQuickDocs - Coldfusion docs reference (written in AJAX)
    House of Fusion (Coldfusion mailing list)
    Sitepoint Coldfusion Forums Coldfusion Cookbook
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    ESPN.com saves 732 terabytes of bandwidth per month
    on April 11 2006 at 09:08 AM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: Andy, Web finds
    Recently ESPN.com changed it's format from 800x600 standard to the more cutting-edge, larger format 1024x768 standard. As more and more people are bumping up the resolution on their Dell 19" LCD monitors, many websites look increasingly small and insignificant. What ESPN.com did is to reduce the amount of space on either side of their website and make it fill the monitor again. This allows for a greater amount of content to be above the bottom of the window.

    As part of their redesign, they also switched to using an all CSS-based code template. CSS (or Cascading stylesheets) is a "language" which allows web developers to seperate the structure of the website (rows and columns) from that way the information appears to the user (colors, fonts, sizes, etc.).

    There are many benefits to making this change among which are: Code becomes smaller in file size, Decreased load time for users.

    In fact, the change is so tremendous that ESPN.com is now SAVING themselves 732 terabytes per month. If you don't know how much a terabyte is, think about it this way...the average computer hard drive is now about 80gigs. A terabyte is 1000 gigs.

    Impressive no? Click the link below for a more detailed analysis of this story.
    Check the link
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    Absolutely incredible animation.
    on April 05 2006 at 04:32 PM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: Andy, Web finds
    So a friend of mine sent an email to me today with a link to an animation for an >Adidas commercial.

    Whatever it is, it's just awesome. The way the players run, then break apart when they come into contact with the soccer ball is just stellar. Kudos to 1st Avenue Machine for their great work.

    Also, I'm listening to Maroon 5 right now. Have I ever mentioned that they're a fantastic band? Well, they're great. You should go listen to them.
    Check the link
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    Andy & Jaime version 3.0 is now live
    on March 05 2006 at 06:33 PM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: General, Andy, Jaime
    Hey everyone... We know it's been a while since we last posted but as you can see, we've been doing a wee little bit of housecleaning around here.

    We've added a lot more functionality and everything should now be easier to read. Pictures will be larger and more frequently uploaded. Plus you can more easily find old posts and pictures.

    Like what you see? Let us know!
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    Longest page on the internet
    on January 21 2006 at 08:20 AM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: General, Andy
    This site has the official longest page on the internet. It appears to be a series of graphics, each designed by a different person, which fit seamlessly together to form one ong image. It's like community graffiti in which everyone knows what everyone else is doing and plans accordingly. Very beautiful.
    Check the link
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    Visiting Daddy
    on January 16 2006 at 07:21 AM by: Jaime Matthews
    File under: Noelle Jordan, Andy
    Click to see a larger photo Last Wednesday, Noelle and I went to visit Andy at work and went out to lunch. The car seat usually puts Noelle right to sleep and she'll stay that way for hours, but we woke her up while we were there so she could see Andy's office. She is making this face because she agrees with me that all the bearded guys Andy works with are crazy.
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    Welcome Noelle Jordan Matthews...
    on December 23 2005 at 09:56 PM by: Jaime Matthews
    File under: General, Noelle Jordan, Andy, Jaime
    Click to see a larger photo Andy Matthews here...letting you know that the newest addition to the Matthews family arrived today, Friday December 23, at 5:34 PM. Noelle Jordan Matthews weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces and was 21 inches long. She's a beautiful pink color (quite fitting wouldn't you say?) and is in perfect health.

    Jaime was absolutely amazing during the whole ordeal which started at 8:15am this morning when her contractions started,. Mother, father and child are at Vanderbilt hospital in room 4117 (under Matthews, Jaime if they move us). Please feel free to stop by and visit on Saturday, but we'll likely be going home on Sunday for Christmas.

    Please join me in welcoming our beautiful daughter to the world.



    Andy (jaime and Noelle in absentia) Matthews
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    Day 10 of the beard strike
    on November 10 2005 at 10:57 AM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: General, Andy
    So it's day 10 of the beard contest. My growth is progressing nicely if I do say so myself. While I don't think that I'm a contender for the top prize, I do feel a sense of comradery with the other 115 odd participants. See my progress at www.whiskerino2005.com.
    Check the link
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    New and improved (well...just improved) website
    on November 04 2005 at 11:08 AM by: Andy Matthews
    File under: General, Andy
    So I added some functionality to the website. Now it functions more like a traditional blog, with categories, image links and photo uploads. You can click any of the category names listed in the "under:" section to view all posts associated with that category. It'll make the site feel more alive.
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    Baby's Room
    on October 04 2005 at 10:13 AM by: Jaime Matthews
    File under: General, Noelle Jordan, Andy, Jaime
    We started working on the nursery last night. This weekend we got the furniture, fabric, and paint for the room while my mom was here for a conference. The crib won't be coming until mom comes back for my shower in November, because our store didn't have it in stock and so my parents picked it up at the one in Chicago.

    So last night, Andy and I pulled the carpet out of the room and thankfully the wood floor underneath is in great shape. Just a few paint splatters that I think we can get to come off. Also, the floor is the same as the wood floor in the rest of the house, but apparently the previous owner stained it darker after he put the carpet in, so this wood is lighter. It actually matches our furniture almost exactly, though. And now of course we'll have to get a cozy rug for the nursery.

    Also this weekend, we got a free sofa sleeper from a couple in East Nashville. They posted it on our e-mail listserv for anyone who wanted to come get it, and we were the first! It's pretty nice for a free sofa, and it came with a green slipcover.

    The fabric store had JUST ENOUGH of the fabric we wanted to make our crib bumper and dust ruffle and the curtains. I like it a lot, and the paint colors we picked out are perfect for it. We got 5 colors of paint for the nursery. The main colors are a light green on top and a darker green on bottom with a creme stripe in between. We got two accent colors of green, as well.

    So, it's coming together! 86 more days until the due date, and only 37 more days of work! How wonderful.
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    Canoe owners
    on September 27 2005 at 10:17 AM by: Jaime Matthews
    File under: General, Andy, Jaime
    Andy just wrote me an IM and said that he got us a canoe. A friend of his was giving it away, and apparently he has always wanted one. He says I knew this. As I am in "nesting mode" - my first thought was WHERE are we going to store it? He said that he will build a rack up in the carport for it. Then I pointed out that we'll need to buy life jackets, and oars, so it's not as free as he thinks. His excitement was not to be thwarted, though. He said, "now we can go canoeing ANYTIME we want to!" Because, you know, not HAVING a canoe is what was preventing us from going before. He is so funny. And we have a canoe.
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    Happy Birthday Andy!
    on September 21 2005 at 12:35 PM by: Jaime Matthews
    File under: General, Andy, Jaime
    Happy Birthday, Andy! He turns 34 today. What an old man! He commented this morning that he will be 50 when our oldest child gets their driver's license. That's what you get for settling down late in the game! I am glad he waited, though, so that I could find him. Andy claims that birthdays don't matter to him as much anymore now that he's so mature, but I still like to make a big deal of them if I can. He actually gets his birthday off work as a paid holiday, but where is he today? Work. Crazy boy. If anyone told me I could have a paid day off, EVER, I would take it. We are going to P.F. Chang's tonight for dinner to celebrate. Make sure you send him an e-mail with birthday wishes!

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