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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Whew!

I don’t know about you guys…but these holidays are kicking my butt! Of course, being sick for almost an entire MONTH will also make time warp faster than you can blink, huh? LOL!

I hope that you all had as good of a Thanksgiving as we did. We ate too much. Spent some time with family – no arguments, thank goodness! And we shopped. And shopped some more. Yes, I’m one of those crazy people that goes out on Black Friday every year…it’s tradition to do so now, whether I really need to go or not. And it’s become such our thing that Brent enjoys going with me and we usually don’t even start shopping for presents until then. The great news? We’re nearly through buying presents!

We knocked out all of our nieces/nephews this weekend, along with most of Tanner’s stuff…and we got a good start on Jenna. We need to work on hers a bit – remember, she’s the sweetie pie that asked for stuff for everyone else and nothing really for herself, so figuring out what Santa needs to bring her has been a bit trickier this year. Other than that, I need to pick up a few little things for Jax (the one person who doesn’t have ANY presents at our house right now!) and finish off Brent. I also need to figure out something to do for our parents.

Last, but not least, I need to figure out what to do about teachers this year. With a little one in the house again, I feel compelled to buy gifts for teachers again. I’m thinking about going the homemade route with them…maybe some cool coasters (did I ever post about those?)…some personalized note cards…and Christmas candy is ALWAYS a hit! Then again, wasn’t I just complaining about a lack of time??? So we’ll see…but I totally feel like I’m doing good on my Christmas shopping this year.

In other news, we’re all feeling much better. The doctor put Jax back on breathing treatments at his 4 month check-up last week (yep, that post is running behind too!), but they’re just twice a day so it’s much more manageable. His cough is almost gone, and the rattle in his chest is responding to the steroid treatment better every day. Brent is all better from his battle with strep, and we managed to keep it contained to just him – not really sure how we did that, other than we practically bought stock in Lysol! And my allergies are MUCH better this week…yep, we’re nearly back to normal. Knock on wood…

I’m going to try to be better about posting now…you know, now that we’re not all on death’s door…now that I might have an extra few minutes at night…now that I can think clearly without the fog of too-little-sleep and medicine-head dragging me down. We’ll see how that goes…for now, here’s some cuteness for you...he's discovered his feet!

Have a great Tuesday!


Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Something Funny

I got this email from a friend (MOH, if you followed along on my bridal blog)...and a few of them made me laugh out loud.  Since it's an email, maybe you've already seen this - I apologize if you have. 

If you've already seen it, read it again and laugh a second time...if you haven't seen it, read on for a pick-me-up!

Truths For Mature Humans


1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.
17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?
20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!
21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!
24. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Hope these gave you a good laugh!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Something Pretty

Since I don't have the time (or energy?) to post over the next few days, but I totally don't want to leave you hanging (like you did last week), I've got a few "tricks" up my sleeve. 

Some things are pretty...some things made me laugh, so I'll share...because we can ALL use laughter!

So maybe I won't be totally absent this week, like I was last week...

We'll start off with something pretty.  Here's a "sweet" layout that I did on Jenna...

No, I didn't do that last week while I was sick...are you kidding me?!?!  I could barely keep my head above water so to speak, much less have time to scrap anything!  I did this the week before last...and just forgot to share it with y'all. 

Enjoy!

Monday, November 22, 2010

OK. Now It’s Just Comical!

Seriously. I can’t catch a break here people. Our house is STILL sick. Just when one of us starts feeling better, someone else comes down with something.  Let me illustrate for you:

Last week, Brent and I were sick with the crud during the first part of the week.

I felt better first, then Brent.

Immediately upon me uttering the words "I feel better today" Jax got sick and the doctor diagnosed him with croup/bronchiolitis.

We get all the way better, and Jax slowly improves on the breathing treatments.  He's not well, but he's not sickly-sick.

For the past two days, Jax has been really particular about his formula. Since he weighs in at nearly SIXTEEN pounds, you can probably tell that he’s a healthy eater, to put it nicely. We call him Chunk. Well, I guess the congestion and all has messed up his little tummy because the formula is suddenly not that good anymore. I mean, it’s good for the first 2-3 ounces and then no good anymore. Which means that instead of dropping a feeding as he gets older and starts eating rice cereal in the evenings, he’s now ADDING a feeding at night since he only drains one bottle during the night and gets picky for the rest of the night.

Bless his heart.

Then today…oh today. Today I got up and went to work. Today my son went to day care for the first time in a week. Today was supposed to be a good day.

But today, Brent woke up with a fever. And a sore throat.  Yep, he went to the VA and he’s got strep.

We really can’t catch a break…

And there’s really nothing else to do at this point except laugh. I’ve already used up all of my tears in the trial that was last week (taking care of a sick baby while you yourself are sick). So today…I laugh.

And pray.

Pray that I don’t get strep. Pray that Jax doesn’t get strep. Thank the good Lord that we weren’t planning on travelling for Thanksgiving anyway, because we’d be cancelling those plans right about now. And most of all, I pray that my husband gets better soon. I need help during the evenings and nights and he can’t give it with strep throat, you know?

So think some good thoughts for me. Send some positive energy my way, if you have some to spare. If you’re dealing with your own house of sickness, then go ahead and be selfish and keep it for yourself…Lord knows that I understand!  Maybe I'll stay well this time around and can at least keep you all entertained with blog posts...you know, you can laugh at my pain...because I'm sure to someone other than me this sort of has to be just a little bit funny.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Missing???

Well, hello there!  Yes, I've been missing in action...maybe you've noticed and worried about me?  Maybe you haven't...either way, we're alive.  But just barely.

Y'all, my house is sick.  My WHOLE house.  Is. SOOOOOO. Sick.

I have had it twice now, I think.  Brent's had it at least once.  Jax (the main instigator) is also on his second round, except this round is kicking his little butt.  This time he had to go see the doctor.  And get chest x-rays and a nebulizer came home with us. 

He's got croup. 

Uggghhh...just hearing that word gives me shivers. 

And he's running fever, so that means no day care. 

Do you know how hard it is to take care of a baby when he's sick and YOU'RE sick?!?!  It's no fun...

I'm exhausted.  Mentally, emotionally and physically.  Brent's in the same dark place.  We both look like we're on our way to a funeral half of the time...but maybe things are improving.  I hate to even type that for fear of jinxing myself.  But he's not running fever today, and I haven't given him anything for the fever since 1am this morning...so cross your fingers that he continues down this better path. 

We need to work full days so we don't lose our jobs.  We need sleep.  We all need time to heal and get well.  Maybe we need that the most.  I took two vitamins this morning...just in case.  LOL! 

I hope that your week is going better...see you soon...maybe.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Blog Hop Friday and A New Layout



If you're new to A Mother...Again, welcome! Sit down and stay awhile, why don't cha? If you like something that you see, feel free to leave me a comment letting me know that you're hear so that I can find you and reciprocate!

So to give you something pretty (IMO) to look at today, I’ll show you another template that I did from the Shabby Shoppe…I used their Blossom kit and Template #4 from the Memorable templates, in case you’re interested.


So what do you think? You like? I think that I’m getting pretty good at this stuff! Of course, it’s a lot easier to do this when you’re using a pre-made template…but still. I tried to do a from-scratch page by myself last weekend, and it turned out ok…but not anywhere near as cute as this! Oh well, I guess that comes in time. I can’t expect to build Rome in a day, so to speak…

Happy Friday everyone!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Go Hug a Veteran!


It's Veteran's Day y'all...in case you somehow missed it.  I don't know how you could...my commute was a breeze this morning, my office building is mostly deserted (as two floors of our office are government offices) and everywhere that I like to eat is offering FREE meals to Veteran's today.  But maybe you didn't know...so now you do.

In all seriousness, this is a special day.  The men and women of our armed forces sacrifice so much...their time, their service, time away from their own families and sometimes they make the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.  All in order to protect us and our ideals and bring the freedom that we have across the world.  In places where it's not always welcomed.  And they're not always welcomed.  They stand on that line day after day, enduring things that you and I can't even imagine...I don't have what it takes to be a service-woman, I'll be the first to admit it.  But I love a service-man.  He sacrficed for our country and deserves my respect. 

They all deserve our respect.  No matter which war they served in, or if they were lucky enough to compelte their entire service during a peaceful time...I can't say thanks enough.  The least that I can do is offer my thanks verbally to all that I see today and give my own special Veteran a hug! 

I hope that you can do the same...

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Time to Order Christmas Cards Again?

Goodness gracious. Where does the time go? I don’t know about you, but I feel like we just finished putting up the Christmas decorations from last year…now you’re telling me that it’s already time to think about ordering Christmas cards? I know that it’s still early in November, but if you’re a procrastinator like I am…then you need as early of a start as you can manage!

I mean, I am the woman who sent out birth announcements after he turned 3 months old…

Mentioning my birth announcements – did I ever share the final design that I picked? I know that several of you helped me narrow down my favorites, since Shutterfly had TOO many to choose from! Now that I mention it, I don’t think that I did share it with you…well, let me rectify that oversight right now. Here’s the final design that I went with…
Yes, if you’re scratching your head and asking yourself where that design came from, you’re not losing it. That wasn’t actually one of my original favorite choices from Shutterfly. I’m not sure how I missed it in my first pass through, but lucky for me I found it the second time through and fell in love!

Shutterfly did such an amazing job on those announcements that I can’t imagine ordering my Christmas cards anywhere else! There were a lot of cute template designs to choose from, the upload process was super-easy, ordering was almost painless and the cards arrived in the cutest box! All plusses in my book…

So here are the Christmas cards that I’m thinking of using – tell me what you think!
I’ve never done a Thanksgiving card, but this one was just too cute to not mention!
And, just in case I procrastinate a little too long, here are my choices for Happy New Year cards…because we all know that I tend to put things off until the last possible moment…

Yep, I think that I’ve covered all of my bases here.

Want another give-away?  I've got a coupon from Shutterfly that’s good for 10 FREE cards of your own for the randomly selected winner!

Comment below telling me which design you like best from the ones I’ve selected. (Be sure and leave me your email address so that I can reach you to give you your code!) I’ll keep the comments open until next Friday (November 19th) for entries…GOOD LUCK!!

And if you're a blogger yourself, and you're interested in getting 50 FREE cards from Shutterfly, follow this link to find out how you can do it too!



Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Baby’s First Tooth

Yes, you read that right. No, your eyes are not deceiving you. We have a tooth. Which explains SO MUCH regarding the last few weeks…

It explains the drool, which really wasn’t as bad as I seem to remember, since I kept telling Brent that it was going to get worse when he started teething.

It explains the bouts of crankiness spread here and there when he’s an otherwise totally happy child.

It REALLY explains the lack of sleeping. The loss of the sleep schedule and everything else that happens at our house between the hours of 8pm and 7am.

So, in one week, we’ve managed to learn how to roll from back to front. We can also roll from front to back. We’ve cut our first tooth. And…yes, there’s more…wait for it…we got up on all fours yesterday.

Once again, no, you didn’t misread that statement. Your eyes are still not playing tricks on you. But my eyes are a little weepy and my mind is going ninety miles a minute. Why, you ask? Because he’s not supposed to do these things yet. I thought that I had a few more months to enjoy this stage. The still a baby, but more like an infant stage. The stage where you can put them in one spot and when you look back (after taking your eyes off for only a few seconds) they’re still in the same spot/position. Yes, I’m immensely proud of my son who seems to be ahead of “the curve” developmentally. But I weep for the parents who have to keep up with him! LOL!

I know that the books are just guidelines…points of reference, if you will. A guide to use for when a baby “should” or “can possibly” do something and not a hard and fast rule that something’s wrong if your little one isn’t doing ABC at whatever age. I also know that every baby’s different, each developing at their own pace in their own ways. What works to help one baby will not necessarily work for the next baby.

But like I told my Mom last night on the phone…I’ve already paid my dues with my daughter. You know how they say that you’ll have one child that is just like you? Well, that’s Jenna. She didn’t sleep. She walked early, skipping the whole crawling stage pretty much. I can’t honestly remember when she started cutting teeth (and I think that makes me a bad Mom!), but I would assume that it was a little early based on how she did everything else. I’m convinced that Jenna did all of these things early to A)pay me back for the havoc that I rained upon my own mother during my first year or two on Earth and B)provide my Mom with amusement. Seriously. I’m not kidding.

Then again, I guess that it’s better to be doing things sooner than I had expected rather than playing the waiting game of when is ABC going to happen? I know that my step-mother was so totally consumed with worry about her daughter (my step-sister) not teething that she took her to the dentist and asked them to do x-rays to prove that she did have teeth and she was just going to be a late bloomer. I can only imagine the look on the dentist’s face when she made that request, by the way…

So here we are. Ahead of pace just a smidge. We’re rolling over. We’re getting onto all fours. And we have a tooth. I’ll have to wait for it to push up a bit more before attempting to take a picture of said tooth for you…right now you can feel the corner of it easier than you can actually see it. Plus, to even get a look at it, you have to convince Jax that he doesn’t want to chew on his fingers for a few seconds…which is next to impossible! I suppose they taste good…


Sunday, November 7, 2010

Can We Spell Rough – R-U-F-F?

You know how sometimes you think to yourself how it might be nice if one of the kids got a little bit sick so that you could squeeze in a three-day weekend?  What’s that?  You mean to tell me that I’m the ONLY Mom that’s ever had that thought? 
Now, to clarify, I certainly don’t mean to say that I would wish illness on my kiddos.  Something small like a cold.  They run a little bit of a temperature – just enough to keep them out of school and sort of tired, but not high enough so that there would be something really wrong with them.  No, you’re right…no matter how I try to say it, it just sounds wrong.   Well, don’t worry about hating me…I got what I deserved these last two weekends!
First off, Jenna got sick.  To make a long story short, she complained about a “bug bite” early during the week before last and I blew it off and chalked it up to the typical drama that goes along with my eight year-old girl.  (She’s sort of a hypochondriac…)  Well, by Friday it had gotten red and was hot to the touch, her whole throat was swollen and the actual “bite spot” was leaking pus.  Yeah, say it with me…EEEEWWWW!  Double eeewww.  After a quick trip to the dr office on Friday afternoon, I had the sh*t literally scared out of me when the dr uttered these words: staph infection.  I took the dr with the severity that the situation called for and Jenna got a double shot (one in each leg) of a strong antibiotic.  We made an appt for the following morning, and were actually pre-admitted to our local hospital in case she worsened over the night.  Oh wait…I was supposed to be making this short, right?
We went back to the dr on Saturday.  Followed again by another appt on Sunday.  We started oral antibiotics and a steroid.  She improved, and it turned out to be an actual bug bite and not a staph infection at all.
But it made for a pretty crappy weekend. 
Then you know about my week of sleepless nights
And on Thursday when we picked Jax up from day care, they were concerned about the goop in his left eye.  He wasn’t running any fever…or maybe it was low grade, he wouldn’t keep the pacifier/thermometer in his mouth long enough to truly register…but he was cranky and seemed out of sorts.  I also noticed that the left eye seemed red and swollen.  I called the after-hours clinic and made an appt for the first thing the next morning with our regular doctor. 
We showed up…after an ok night…and found out that he has pink eye.  Nice.  So I got my Friday off of work, but had a sick little man to take care of.  He really wasn’t too bad…but still.  And then Brent got sent home from work for the afternoon since his boss was worried about Brent also having pink eye (knowing how contagious) it can be and so we were both home early.  Which was nice. 
But by today?  I’m tired.  I’m ready to go back to work to get a break.  He’s cranky, he doesn’t feel good, but doesn’t really feel bad either.  And the sleeping?  Oh last night was SO much worse than he’s been for the last 5 nights or so…
Oh, and he’s got a bad diaper rash from the antibiotics giving him diarrhea…like his little butt is so raw that it’s bleeding every once in a while sort of bad.  And we’re only on day 3 of the 10-day cycle of antibiotics…
But on a less complain-y sounding note – our boy can ROLL!!!  Yep, you read that right – he’s mobile.  Day care told us either Wednesday or Thursday that he was rolling from back to front, but the little stinker waited until today to show us his cool trick.  But we’ll one-up the day care ladies…not only did he finally show us how he could roll from back to front, but he also pushed WAY up on his forearms…AND…rolled from front to back.  Of course, I don’t really think that he meant to do that last trick since he looked as shocked as we did! 
But now that he’s done it once, it’s only a matter of time before he’s doing it all the time…which means that he’s mobile.  And no, I have no pictures of the great event since we were doing a bit of nakey-nakey time when he did this to try and treat the above-mentioned diaper rash.  Oh well, maybe next time I’ll take pictures and we’ll just let it be our secret that those pictures aren’t really the real first roll over pictures.
You know, sort of like when you dress your kids up in the outfit that they wore the first day of school two weeks after school started because you forgot your camera that day…since no one but you will ever know, right?  Note to the masses: that trick only works until the kids get old enough to tell on you…and they WILL rat you out.  Trust me on this!
So here’s to long weekends and going back to work on Monday mornings…I’ve never been so glad to see Sunday night!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

CSN Gift Card Winner!

When you have a sick one at home with you...the whole world either slows down or speeds up...I'm really not sure which it is!  So, I apologize for not posting this sooner...

The winner of the $20 CSN Stores give-away is...

Lucky comment #8 - Domestic Diva!!!

Congratulations to you - email me (click on the Talk to Me button above) and I'll get your email address over to CSN and they'll send your gift certificate to you!  You've got 48 hours to contact me, and then I'll pick another winner. 

Thanks to all who entered!  This was fun...I hope to do more of these in the future.

Shabby Shoppe Challenges

So,  being a new Mom, I don't have a lot of time for myself.  Being a Mom of three kids I have to set some boundaries and keep my stuff as MY STUFF...and lay down some strict rules about what they can/can't touch, play with, sit on and use.  Surely everyone has these same rules/regulations at their house, right?

I remember when I just had one child.  The first year or two were hard and all-consuming, but somewhere between the ages of two and three, I discovered that I could have a life.  That I could have hobies.  That I could go and do things with my friends, either taking my child along or leaving her with her dad.  Talk about freedom...

I used to scrapbook.  There will be one or two readers here who know me IRL and are having a good laugh.  They're laughing because when I say "used to" I mean like 3 or 4 YEARS ago.  It was a hobby that I loved, and a great way for me to keep my sanity by having my own "thing" that didn't involve anyone but me.  I had great nights out with my scrapping friends, and an occasional weekend of scrapping if I was really lucky!  I scrapped with them, and alone at my house, and it was a rare day that you didn't see piles of paper or embellishments spread out somewhere in my house.

Then life got in the way.  I got divorced, lost my desire for all things creative (it just took too much energy) and let's face it - living on on the third floor of an apartment complex, lugging all those boxes and cases up and down the stairs, did NOT make my hobby very appealing to me anymore.  So I just sort of quit.  Plus, I lost someone really close to me, scrapped long enough to finish the project that I started to honor her life and just pretty much lost the desire to look at my favorite hobby anymore.  There were lots of factors, but mainly life just got in the way. 

Then I came out of my "coma" and began to explore in the world again.  I made new friends, started dating, met the man of my dreams and created a new family.  Somehwere along the way I heard about a new trend in scrapbooking, digital scrapping, and I was hooked.  I got Photoshop, bought some kits, and then took a promotion at work that had me travelling 50% of the time...when I had a 6 year old at home.  So I got busy.  I've never forgotten about it, but it just got put on the back burner.  Then I planned a wedding.  And grew a baby. 

Now the baby's out...and he's growing...and I have decided that this whole digital scrapping thing is something that I can do.  I started following the Shabby Shoppe blog (my favorite digital scrapbooking store!) and through reading along, following their tutorials, and admiring their inspiration boards I got hooked again.  When they posted their template challenge this past month, giving me the tools to do my first simple layout...I took a leap and decided to do this.  It's the perfect hobby for me.  I get to combine my love for pictures, writing, creativity, and scrapping...and it's all stored on my computer so no wandering fingers can mess with it!  I did my first layout the other day...and I'm HOOKED!  Take a peek...
 



What do you think?  It's my first layout...so be kind.  I'm sure that there are a million and one cooler things that I will learn how to do...but I LOVE it!  I like that I can re-use the products that I purchase endlessly...I love that it doesn't create a mess (other than on my computer!)...and I love that I can easily carry it with me if I should start scrapping with my friends again.  Just love it. 

Does anyone else do this?  Or am I the only big geek?  It's ok if I am...I've been going my own way for a while now...just curious.  I'll be posting some layouts and pages every once in a while...just for fun...or to brag just a little bit as I get better at this...hope you enjoy!




Friday, November 5, 2010

THANK YOU!!!



If you're new to A Mother...Again, welcome! Sit down and stay awhile, why don't cha? If you like something that you see, feel free to leave me a comment letting me know that you're here so that I can find you and reciprocate!

And just because I'm SO excited to be building my blog traffic and gaining more followers, I told myself that when I reached 50 followers I would do something special for my readers. I wasn't really sure what to do, but something was called for...and then I received a Thank You gift from a coupon group that I signed up for the other day, and I knew that this was the PERFECT prize for my followers.

Everyone's name went into the "drawing" (everyone who follows me through GFC, that is) and I randomly selected a winner using random.org.

The Prize? A free photo book from Shutterfly! Yep, you read that right - a free, 8"x8" 20-page Hardcover Photobook from Shutterfly!






The Winner? - Lucky #23

Nikkolish!!!

I'll be contacting you shortly, Nikkolish, to get you the product code for your free Photobook from Shutterful.  Thanks to everyone for following, leaving me comments and just making my day...I'll do something like this again when I reach 100 followers...

Happy Friday!


Thursday, November 4, 2010

From the Mouths of Babes

Kids say the darndest things, huh? Anyone who’s had at least one child (let alone more) can attest to this fact – they will say ANYTHING that pops into their little brains. They don’t edit. They don’t hold anything back. And they certainly don’t take into consideration WHERE they are, or how LOUD they’re talking when the thought pops into their head and comes out. Many, many Moms and Dads across the world could tell you countless stories about their darling son/daughter doing something that embarrassed them in public…

As funny as those stories as, this isn’t one of those. HAHAHA!! I mean, it’s a funny story about something that Jenna said to me the other night, but it’s not one of the embarrass you in public stories…sorry if I got your hopes up!

So we’re driving home from school the other day and Jenna and I are having one of our many “deep” conversations. I’m really not sure how we got on the subject of kids becoming adults…but this is how conversations with kids sometimes goes – you listen with half an ear, nodding and saying “Uh-huh” every so often and before you know it you’re talking about s-e-x or something equally as alarming.

Here goes:

Jenna: Hmmm…I think that I just noticed a pattern…

Me: (they’ve been studying patterns for an AWFULLY long time now in school – wonder when they’ll move on?) Uh – huh.

Jenna: Yep, it’s a pattern. That’s for sure.

Me: (realizing that Jenna’s wanting more than just the standard Mom answer) What pattern did you notice, Jenna? (asked with WAY more enthusiasm than I was actually feeling at that moment in time…)

Jenna: Well, first Tanner will be an adult. Then I’ll be an adult. And last, Jax will be an adult.

Me: (really wondering where this was going and what brought this up?) Yeah, you’re right that’s a pattern.

Jenna: So, first will be Tanner, then me and then Jax. Neat.

Me: Yeah, and then once all of you are adults and have moved out of the house, Brent and I will PAR-TAYYY!!!

Jenna: (with 100% honesty and sincerity in her little voice) But you’ll be dead by then!

So…apparently my child either thinks that I’m already REALLY old or she finally believes what I’ve been telling people for years – these kids are gonna be the death of me. Literally. And we all know that nothing is more literal than an 8 year-old.

As I start laughing about her pronouncement of my impending doom, I tried to explain to her that I wasn’t that old…

Me: Jenna! I’m not THAT old…jeez! You know, Jax will be an adult in only 20 years… (rounding up to the nearest whole number for convenience) That’s not that far away.

Jenna: Yeah, I know. That’s why I said that you’ll either be dead or close to it. It’s really not that far away if you think about it, Mom.

Me: Well, if you think that’s not that far off, then exactly how old do you think that I am?

Jenna: Sensing the danger in answering this question honestly, promptly answers “32?”

I just laughed harder. I mean, she was acting like I was currently 65 years old with a bad heart and a foot already in the grave. That me making it another 20 years just might not happen.

32, my ass. That’s a PC answer if I ever heard one!

I assured her that I would be around for quite some time…or that’s my plan anyway. Then I told her how old Grammy was…just to even the scoreboard a little bit. She was shocked to say the least. So either my Mom looks younger than me, or she’s just shocked that Grammy looks as good as she does considering her advanced age (according to Jenna). Either way, I laughed all the way home…


Wednesday, November 3, 2010

We’re Like the Walking Dead

Those are zombies, right? I hope so…otherwise I just referred to my husband and I as dead walkers…creepy!

Anyway…my child doesn’t sleep. No, that’s not true. He does sleep. He just doesn’t sleep for longer than 4 hours at night. Seriously. That’s three feedings between 7p-7a. And that’s not so much sleep for us…since we share in the feeding duties now that it’s all formula all the time. I really thought that once we switched to formula that it would last him a bit longer than the breastmilk was lasting, but not so much. Maybe it’s an urban legend that formula is more filling?
Either way, Jax used to sleep from his 8p feeding (after bath time) until 2am. Like clockwork. You could have actually set a clock by that schedule. Then he would go from 2a until 5a…not so long, but ok since we got a good stretch of sleep during the first part of the night.  Then, without any warning, he switched the schedule up on us, as babies are prone to doing. One week it was 130a and 430a…and the next week it was 1a and 4a…and now some nights it’s midnight or even 1130p when he’s waking up to be fed that first time.

I don’t know what happened. I thought that it was the cold that did us in…you know, too much snot, not enough suckage with the booger-sucker-thingy? But he’s a lot better on that front and still hasn’t gone back to his old sleeping schedule. He’s gone as long as 4 hours…maybe 5 hours one night…but no more 6 hours stretches. And if he does (by some miracle) end up sleeping longer, it only happens one night…there’s no repeat or encore performance for us to enjoy.

So we’ve had to start sleeping in shifts. You know, one of us takes the first part of the night and the other goes into our extra bedroom (Tanner’s room) and sleeps like the dead. Then in the middle of the night, we swap. It works for us, except that there is a big disconnect with your spouse when you don’t get to sleep next to each other. And when you’re trying to do a 30 Day Intimacy Challenge, it’s even harder. I feel closer than ever to my husband, and can’t enjoy one of the best things about our relationship…sleeping together. In the literal or figurative sense.

I’m really not complaining, or I don't mean to complain. I understand that this is part of having kids...they don't sleep.  I was a horrible sleeper as an infant, a fact that my Mother reminds me of often. Especially when I’m complaining about how my own children are or are NOT sleeping. She tells me that I could speak in complete sentences before I ever slept through the night. At least I know that she understands, right? I suppose, except for the fact that back in those days, they at least let you do rice cereal or solid foods SO much earlier…heck, even with Jenna, the norm was to start solids at 3 months. Now, it’s 4 months if you’ve got a wayward doctor…but more likely 6 months if your doctor keeps up with his/her medical stuff. Lucky for me, I’ve got a 4 month believer…and I feel that Jax is ready as he stares at our food intently now when we eat.

But no one can tell you for sure that eating more than just formula/breast milk will satisfy their bellies and keep them sleeping for longer periods of time. I remember Jenna being a difficult sleeper. I want to say that she got better after starting solids…but mostly I just remember how bad the whole bed-time routine with her was. So I intentionally started sleep training Jax from a young age…and he does well with putting himself to sleep – I just rock him until he’s drowsy and then I put him down. He usually wakes up when I lay him down, but soothes himself back to sleep with either his paci or his fist (no, he still hasn’t gotten the hang of just the thumb!).

Given all of that, I don’t think that it’s sleep training that we need to do. When he wakes, it’s a hunger cry and he eats the whole contents of the bottle. I can’t increase the amount of formula in his bottles, because if we do, he doesn’t eat any more than he’s currently consuming so it’s just wasted formula. He’s obviously filling up when he’s eating...at least, that's how I interpret him not finishing his fuller bottles.

When it’s not a hunger cry we soothe what we can and let him cry out what we can’t soothe. I think that we’re tackling it all okay…but maybe you have suggestions for me? Maybe we’re trying too many different things?

I don’t think that it’s a growth spurt…as it’s been going on for almost a month now. That’s one hell of a growth spurt if that’s what it is! He’s starting to drool more and more, but I don’t think that he’s quite into a teething stage, so that isn’t the problem either. At least, I don’t think any of this is the problem…

Can you tell me anything to try that I haven’t already tried??? The magic crack baby blanket does still work…and he’s adjusted to using the larger ones now too…so I no longer fear the day that he outgrows that one blanket. And we’re also sometimes getting him to sleep without being swaddled at all. Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he doesn’t. We play it all by ear…

So what are we doing wrong? Or am I just destined to have those kids that just don’t sleep? I’m sure it’s payback in some form for all the stress that I caused my own Mother…don’t you just hate that evil woman? (Payback, not my Mom…just to clarify!)

Now I understand why some employers groan aloud when a woman employee announces that she’s expecting. It’s not just the pregnancy that you have to get through…or even the maternity leave that causes problems. It could be the first year of parenthood that so many parents get through on little to no sleep, barely functioning at their “day jobs” while drinking 18 cups of coffee just to get through the 9 hour day. Yep, that could be it!

Don't forget to click over here and enter the give-away for a $20 CSN Stores gift certificate...the entries are still fairly low, which increases your odds of winning!!  The give-away ends tomorrow night - 11/4 so hurry up and enter!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween 2010

I'm too tired to write much...but you just want to see the pictures anyway, right?  That works for me too!

So here you go...we had a witch and a puppy at our house...and at the last minute, Brent decided to join in on the fun as a wounded Marine.

Which made me odd man out...oh well, maybe next year!

Our little puppy didn't even make it to the first house...

Yep, he slept right through his first Halloween...

At least, he slept until it was time to eat...then the whole neighborhood heard him!

I hope that your Halloween was just as good as ours was!  Hey - on a side note, did anyone get "tricked" instead of "treated"?  Jenna actually got a few empty wrappers/boxes of candy.  We're pretty sure that it was these two teenage boys that "shared" their candy with her...which was SO mean...but we don't know for sure.  She was SO upset that someone would do that!  Just wondered if it happened to anyone else...

My New Love…

I’m really digging ebates.com right now. Seriously. I know that I’m like the last person in the free world right now to have heard about this site and join up…but now that I’ve gotten the hang of it…I LOVE it!

Let me explain it to you all (even though you probably don’t care) like I explained it to Brent this weekend. He’s hooked now too, by the way!

Let’s pretend that I’m running low on diapers. I have two options: run to my local Target/Wal-Mart/Wherever and purchase them, saving $2 with the normal coupon that can be found either online or in the paper. Or I can order them online through Drugstore.com via ebates. When I look them up online, I see that drugstore.com sells them for the same price that I would pay in Target. And they also give you the automatic $2 coupon just like I would use in a normal store, without actually having to use the coupon that I clipped. There’s no shipping for orders over a certain amount (or when they’re running a special), so that’s a moot point of difference.

So what’s the difference you ask – besides having to wait 5-7 business days for the online order to arrive at my office? I’ll tell you. When I buy the diapers through Ebates, I get the $2 coupon…plus I don’t pay sales tax. That’s an 8.5% savings for me immediately for where we live (since sales tax rates vary this could be more or less for you) automatically. Then, Ebates pays me back 6% on my total purchase. PLUS, drugstore.com pays me back 5% on my purchase in their own store dollars for me to use during the next quarter (kinda like how CVS dollars work). So, if you think about it, I just saved almost 20%!!!


Wow. And when you look at the cost on a per diaper basis, I would pay $.27/diaper if bought in the store (when using a coupon)…but I will only pay $.19/diaper. $.08 might not seem like all that much to you, but factor it out a bit. The average family that uses disposable diapers will go through 60 diapers in a week or 3,120 diapers in a year. That $.08 adds up to a savings of $249.60 on a yearly basis! Holy cow!

Or here’s another example. I talked about my high chair situation before, I think. Well, I’m thinking about going ahead and ordering it this week or next week to give it plenty of time to get here and give us time to get it set up before Jax actually needs to use it. I looked online today and found it at diapers.com for $116.99 (jeez, high chairs are expensive!), which is a store that Ebates works with. Diapers.com offers free shipping on orders over $49 so there are no shipping charges, which makes it the same as picking it up in the store. Except that I also won’t pay sales tax by ordering it online – an immediate 8.5% savings to us. Also, right now through 11/15 diapers.com is running a promotion for first-time customers giving them an additional 10% off of your first order (on everything except diapers), so I’ll save that too. And I’ll earn 1%-5.5% cash back on my purchase by going through ebates to get it. So the total potential savings is anywhere from 19.5%-24%...and the price is $13 lower than the price that I would pay at Target anyway!

It just seems to keep adding up. And the more that I use the service, the more benefits that I see to using it. Sure, it takes a little planning to order diapers online…but if I missed something and got into a bind, it’s not a big deal to run to my local store and buy a small pack to hold me over until my order arrives. I haven’t had to do that yet, but I could if needed. And since I didn’t have to use my physical coupon when I ordered online, I would still not pay the normal price.

And ALL of those savings goes into our savings fund…the totals just add up week after week. We get SO excited to see it add up…just putting us that much closer to our vacation on normal purchases that we would make anyway! Love it!

Yes, we know that we’re big dorks for getting THIS excited over saving money…but it truly is addicting once you start paying attention. What do you do to save money in your household? I know with all that we do, there’s SO much more that we could/should be doing!