Cruise Highs

We arrived home from our cruise tonight, and wow...what an incredible time we had! It all started here in Mississippi, where Ken and Terry arrived for their first non-working visit! We headed to New Orleans on Sunday morning and did the old stamp-and-dash at the Jazz National Historic Park.

We hopped on the ship, The Norwegian Spirit, which held about 2,000 passengers. It was our first time on Norwegian, and like the other ships we have cruised on, there were positives and negatives, but overall, you just can't beat cruising!!!

Norwegian is a more casual ship, and no dress up days are required. We didn't know this coming on, but this picture was the last time the heels left the closet. :)

Our off ship excursions? Snorkeling in Costa Maya, Cave tubing in Belize, reef snorkeling in Honduras (there were such big pretty fish that came right up! We all- except Jeremy- wore a life jacket, which was AWESOME! One less thing you have to think about, and it made fish watching so much more enjoyable!) and the Mayan Ruins in Cozumel.

In addition to all of that fun, we played countless games of Monopoly Deal (that is such a fun, quick game for 2-5 people. However, personally I recommend more than 2 people because it can get a little personal, and someone might end up crying. Trust me on that one)

Of course there was fabulous food, including lobster (which I ate 2), salmon, steak, ceaser salads, omelets, authentic mexican food, and....ready for this...a CHOCOLATE BUFFET! Wow. That was amazing. It was just one of those moments when you wonder if cruising can seriously get any better. :)

Another positive thing that happened...or really that didn't happen...was sickness or cruise ship doctors. Not even once, not even one penny. :) Jeremy and I did seem to pick up a little stomach bug, but it didn't stop the fun, just added a few trips to the bathroom.

Noah grew a lot this week (although I could blame some of that on the chocolate buffet). He also started acrobatics in my belly, and I can see him moving by just looking at the outside of my stomach. :) I have a feeling he is going to be a very active little boy!

Yeah for a great vacation, for being home and unpacked, and yeah for an early to bed!!! :)

Long Face

The dogs know what is up...that we are leaving. :( A good friend of mine is coming to stay with them, sleep here with them, and of course feed them an extra scoop when they can put together a good begging face. Goodbye Mr. Long Face...we will miss you!

Packed and Ready

Tomorrow we set sail to the Western Caribbean. Jeremy's parents have arrived, and we are packed (mostly) and ready to go. See you in a week...we are on vacation!!!

Great Mail Day

Mr. Noah had a great mail day. He got his bedding set from Amazon (for $99...13 peice set!!!! It came with some wall hangings, sheets, a bumper, a little comforter, pillows and a little toy basket). Yes, we are forcing airplanes on our child. :)

Last weekend some friends of ours gave us tons of baby freebies...a bouncy seat, clothes, a boppy and a car seat. The car seat had survived their little boy and was in need of replacing. I bought a new car seat cover on e-bay for $30, and the car seat is good as new. We just need to buy a second car seat base for Jeremy's truck and we will be ready to go.

I also got my new LCD screen in the mail. Jeremy installed it, and my phone is good as new too! Yeah for not having to buy a new phone!

Sucking Beagle

He is ridiculously cute, and he does what Beagles do best: sucking. His bed is totally nasty and crusty looking, but if you can ignore that fact, he is just too cute to resist. :)

Not Sure What is Going On Here...

I'm not sure what is going on here, but I came home to this:

and this:

and several random hands doing this:

They made quite interesting faces:

and when I came home from bible study 2 hours later, they were still doing this:

And Beagle was still doing what Beagles do best: Begging.

The biggest question of the night is...what is the availability of these two guys? Because when they help, I don't have to!!!

I Beat Rite Aid

Wow Wow Wow. Thank you so much Kristen for all of your wonderful couponing advise. I stayed up late last night planning my sting at Rite Aid...and I was so excited I could hardly sleep.

Today I saved $75 between coupons, buy one/get one and up+ points. I got so much, everything we use all of the time! I got:

2 boxes of 6 month diapers (normally $19.99 each)

4 boxes of Special K (normally $4.79 each)

2 boxes of Kelloggs FiberPlus (normally $4.49 each)

2 8-packs of sharpies (normally $8.99 each)

1 fine point sharpie (normally 1.89 each)

2 packs Orbit gum (normally $1.29)

1 box of force flex garbage bags (normally $8.99)

Normally, I would have spent $102, but I only spent $26 with tax!!! Needless to say we have a lot of cereal and diapers, but we will use it all I'm sure!

Thanks Kristen for helping me beat Rite Aid!!! :)

Pregnancy Woes

Baby Noah has given me very little to complain about. I haven't been sick even once, I'm not really tired, and halfway through, I can still see my toes. :)

I do, however, have a short list of pregnancy woes, which are really quite minor, but still something to get a good laugh out of (but not too hard...see woe #3).

Woe #1: I have itchy armpits. My sister, Danielle, had itchy feet when she was pregnant. Over Thanksgiving, I thought she was a little crazy spraying her feet non-stop. I mentioned my itchy arm pits to the doctor last week, and she told me that I was the first person ever to have that problem. She recommended spraying my pits with hydrocortizone spray...but not before having a good laugh at my situation. :) The spray has definitely helped!

Woe #2: I now officially talk in my sleep. I have done this 4 times, about various topics...such as the dogs, having a cuteness contest and a few other things. Sometimes Jeremy humors me, sometimes he tells me that I am crazy. At the time, my conversation makes perfect sense, but when I wake up in the morning, I remember being crazy. Weird.

Woe #3: I also pee in my pants. This has also happened 4 times. The first 3 were due to sneezing, and the 4th was when I was having a good laugh about Woe #2. I need to start bringing a change of clothes to work...lol...or at least stop sneezing!

Summary: If those are the only things I have to complain about...I think it is going pretty good! How much does a surrogate mother get paid? :)

New Beagle Bowl

Beagle got a new food bowl. It is a slow feeder bowl, designed so he doesn't swallow a whole cup of food in one bite (if he actually chewed, which he doesn't). We have tried several things, but the most effective thing was just pouring his scoop on the floor. Unfortunately that is not very good for the tile, so he and his scoop were banished to the shop. We saw an advertisement for the slow feeder bowl, and forked over the $14 to give it a try. The hopping beagle all the way to the shop before 7am is not the best thing to wake up to (when he is not pawing or licking me to wake me up to feed him).

Overall, it is pretty effective. It is divided into 4 different compartments so the dog can't stick his entire snout into the bowl and swallow. It fits just under a cup, which suits Beagle fine, because he would rather eat several times a day anyway. We are pretty happy with the new bowl!

Rite Aid Savings

I've been a little jealous of Jeremy's cousin Kristen, who has been blogging about some amazing savings at Rite Aid. I've never really been much of a Rite Aid shopper, or a couponer, but after reading her blog, I felt like I was really missing out on something amazing! So I read up on Rite Aid Resolution Rewards, and gathered up all of my coupons, ready to go in and do business.

I was doing really well at first, though I do find the program somewhat confusing (as does every employee I asked questions to). I was doing great at the register, checking prices, and handing over my manufactures coupons. Then someone got in line behind me. Have you ever been in line behind someone with a million coupons, or someone who is writing a check??? grrrrr. Well that was totally me (not the check writing part). I got really nervous that I was making him wait, and I started sweating and apologizing....it was bad. I checked out really quick, not really paying attention to the remainder to the sale and left fast. When I got back to work, I realized I had gotten so nervous that I missed over 30$ in savings. After work, I headed back to Rite Aid, returned and re-bought a bunch of things in oder to use my coupons and points. Someone was in line behind me, but I pretended not to notice because 1. it was my turn and 2. Rite Aid could have opened up another register.

I ended up doing pretty well...I think I could have saved another $11 that I missed out on, but altogether I think I saved over $65!!! And, needless to say, Mr. Noah is stocked up on size 3,4 and 5 diapers. :)

Kristen, if you have any great pointers for me, I would love them!

Bathing Riley

There is nothing like trying to get a 85 pound dog into a bathtub.

Especially when he hates water.

Riley hates having a bath.

Usually, I try to get him into the tub first, before he really has a chance to figure out what is happening. Riley perpetually smells like mothballs (says Jeremy), and a bath every now and then doesn't really help the situation, but it makes me feel a lot better as a dog owner. The funny thing about bathing Riley is that he is so big, I have to work to keep every limb and his head in the tub to prevent water spillage.

So enjoy a picture of my wet dog, and get a good laugh at me for having to drag a stinky dog across the floor on his bed. :)

Broken Phone

We drove the 60 miles to Target to save a few bucks on something I wanted to buy (but didn't want to pay shipping and handling for).

While in Target, I dropped my cell phone on the floor, cracking the LCD screen. There is no hope for my poor little phone. Calls to Verizon basically resulted in $300 for a refurbished phone (like the one I have now).

My super fixer-upper husband researched, and we bought a new LCD screen online for $69. Hopefully the new screen will fix my problem and my Driod will be back in action in week or so.

I am telling this sad story for 2 reasons:

1. Because if you need to get ahold of me for the next week, call the house phone and leave a message. Jeremy is going to ask around if anyone at work has an old Verizon phone I can use in the meantime.

2. Because I have recently gotten clumsy in the last month and have broken the following items: a. my phone b. my macbook's optical drive c. my rear passenger tire. I have no explanation for the clumsiness, but if it doesn't stop, we are going to go broke repairing everything!

So, while I await my new LCD screen, I will be sitting on the couch in bubble wrap to prevent any more disasters. :) So much for saving a few bucks at Target.

Welcome Charlotte!

Welcome to our first neice...Charlotte Mae Barger!

She was born January 7th (Thursday) and even though it was a rocky start, she seems to be doing much better now! :) Check out Danielle's blog here. Can't wait to meet you Charlotte!

Meet Noah

Meet Baby Noah, who will be 19 week old tomorrow! He is definitely a BOY! We had a fantastic ultrasound technician, so really took a lot of time to show us everything...the stomach, the heart, the face, everything! She even made us a video!

Here are his boy parts! Good thing the tech knew what she was looking for!

(He has his mouth is open!!!) :)

Noah is 10 ounces...good and healthy!

Another Tree Bites the Dust

Our neighbor had a tree in his front yard that was blown over by a storm. S0, we did something very normal for Jeremy...knock on a door and ask if he can cut down their tree. Turned out that the neighbors chain saw wasn't working anyway and they have a gas fireplace, so it was all ours.

This is the tree before:

And this is the tree 3 hours later. Yes, the neighbor let us drive our truck right up to the tree. :)

All that was left after we got through was it was two small piles of branches that the county will come pick up.

And we are stocked up on firewood for a long time!!!

Tamale Eater

This little booger got up on the counter and ate Jeremy's dinner while he was distracted. He probably didn't even taste it because he inhaled it so fast.

But alas, the tamale is gone...

and the Tamale Eater has been in the dog house all night.

BS Update

BS is 18 weeks (4 months) old! Thursday is our big day...boy/girl. :) We had an early guess that said boy, so we will see!!! Whatever it is, we are very excited to see BS again, and see what he/she is doing in there. It has been more than 10 weeks since we last got a peak at BS! We will blog the big news on Thursday!

Here are a very belly pictures, not a whole lot of growing happening, but I'm definately too big for my pants!