Sock Cupcakes

Okay, I have to brag.

I have been reading about these sock cupcakes on some of the couponing blogs. They are such a cute and inexpensive gift! So, today Noah and I went to Walmart to gather the supplies...and here are the results! I am super excited about how cute they came out...they will make great gifts for Noah's teachers for Valentines Day!

Weekend Get-Away

This weekend was wonderful. I missed my boys very much, but it was nice to get away...do girl things, shop, eat, talk...that kind of thing. The boys did great. Jeremy had it all under control, and even though he is tired, everybody survived!

I fed Noah and hit the road at 7:30 am. 3.5 hour drive to Trinity's. I got a tour of Trinity's newly renovated house (they did a ton of work, including finishing off 600 square feet- two bedrooms and a bathroom) ate a wonderful Mexican lunch (mmmmm), and did a little shopping (see diaper picture below...$.13 a diaper!).

Later that evening, we met up with a few of Trinity's work friends, and we painted pottery. I painted a big mug for oatmeal, ice cream or soup. I'm super excited about it.

Sunday we hit up Walgreens on the way to church to coupon a little bit. After church was another yummy meal and then more shopping! How can you beat that?

I intended to sleep in. It didn't work out as well as I planned, mostly thanks to having to wake up to pump. It was my first night in 8 months not sleeping next to the baby monitor. I couldn't take a sneak peak on my babe in the middle of the night to see what the little squirt was doing. I missed him. That being said, I didn't miss the pitter patter of little puppy feet at 6 am!!!

This week

This week:

We will had lived in this house for 3 years!! That is the longest I have lived ANYWHERE since I left for college. :) I like it. Mississippi has really grown on us! We have been finished with our house renovations for over a year now, and it has been really nice to be able to enjoy our hard work.

Is my coupon-versary. I started using coupons last January, and I have really loved my new hobby. We have saved so much (I stopped counting after $1500- which happened really quickly!!!), and have built us up a nice little stash of goodies. We have lots extra, so we are able to share/donate to people who need it!). We have enough toothpaste to last a LONG time.

My baby will turn 8 months old. That little guy is a million times better than anything we could have imagined. I am also a million times more tired than I ever imagined, but when I see that little squirt smile at me in the morning, it is all worth it.

Will be 4 years car-accident free. Except for that small "tap" into a sign two weeks ago, but that doesn't really count since no damage was done. Maybe I am becoming a better driver as I get older.

Rio has been going strong 4 month since his first seizure. Jeremy is beginning to question his "brain tumor". :) He is probably just trying to fake us out for extra treats and special attention. He will most likely out live all of us.

I am leaving my baby over night. For the first time. Headed to Memphis to visit my friend Trinity. That leaves all 5 boys alone together. Scary. I'm not sure who is more worried about my night away...me or Jeremy. :)

Puking, Buttoning and Cruising

Noah projectile vomited as we were walking into daycare. All over him, all down my scrubs, and all over the floor. Needless to say, he wasn't allowed to stay. After scrambling, attempting to find someone to babysit a sick baby, I quit, and spent the day home with my baby.

Noah is feeling much better...fine actually. Aside from the suspicious 2.5 hour nap, he has been his normal self. And I have gotten a lot done today. A day "off" that I wasn't expecting...I got my pantry all cleaned out, I washed all the sheets on the bed, I vacuumed, caught up on laundry.

And I got a few little work projects done today. One skill that a lot of kids have trouble with is buttoning. Buttoning is a hard skill, but not being able to button also leads to needing help going to the bathroom and getting dressed. I have a standard "button board" that my kids can practice on in front of them, but I wanted something else! So I browsed on pinterest, and came up with these two ideas:

A "button turkey". You can button the little feathers on to the turkey. I would have liked to have different sized buttons, but Noah was napping and I had to work with what I had.

A "button snake". You thread this little button snake through the felt holes, and hopefully end up with the snake! Again, it could have been cuter, but I had to work with what I had.

Lastly, a cute picture of the two men in my life: One who was up past bed time, and one who I am desperately trying to talk into taking the other two of us on a cruise. (I think it is working!!!)

Nativity

First, please ignore the dirty tile. I have no excuse.

Next, let me introduce you to my biblical posse. I'm so excited that my nativity advent is done (almost) for next year. I need to figure out the best background yet, but I have a lot of time to work on that. Noah love its (though he mostly loves to eat the pieces). It took a lot of work (more than I expected), but I'm very happy with the outcome.

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley arrived at our house yesterday! Thanks Aiden for sharing him with us! We are going to take him around to a few different places and events and take some pictures for Aiden's school.

Right now though, he is getting ready for his biggest debut. :)

Can't wait to give him a tour of Mississippi.

Popular

Now that Noah is eating "real" food (ritz crackers, cheese puffs, yogurt drops, bagels, oranges), and of course baby food too, he has become a whole lot more popular. It is not uncommon to find 4-6 eyes staring at him while he chows down, drooling and eagerly awaiting the first drop. Sometimes they score big, and those chubby, clumsy hands drop a whole bagel (frozen, and inhaled WAY too fast), and sometimes they don't (a berry puff here and there). He is learning, and he is getting better by the day! I love to watch those little fingers get more and more coordinated by the day!

Obsessed

Okay, so I'm embarrassed to admit. I have a few blogs, random blogs, people I don't even know, that I'm obsessed about reading.

You may have heard about Tripp in the news this week. He had EB, a rare skin condition. He passed away this weekend, but I have been totally obsessed about reading his life story, looking at his beautiful pictures, and being amazed at what an impact his little life made. On a side note, his big beautiful cheeks look so much like Noah's. I just want to squeeze him.

Another blog I stalk is Kendra's, who is just so open and honest about her, life, love, and daily struggles. Last week, Kendra found out she was pregnant, so I am looking forward to continuing to read about her life story.

Thirdly, people are obsessed. Not me, but other people. With Chick Fil A. Like the ones who are camped out in front of the brand new Chick fil A for 2 days, hoping to be one of the first 100 customers to get chick fil a free for a year. wow.

The last one who is obsessed is Noah. With his new Johnny Jumper. He loves it!!!

And just for fun, we let him try a pickle. He didn't LOVE it, but he liked it. And he ate it!

Anyone else obsessed about something crazy?

Sharpie Credit

Okay so here is how this awesome deal went. One of the coupon blogs had a post about sharpie markers. $3 for a 12 pack. Fine and Ultra Fine. I was excited. That was a great price, and between moving boxes and Jeremy's airplane, we use a lot of sharpies. Plus, it is not like they expire, so I stocked up. I bought 7 packages (3 ultra fine, 4 fine). I don't know why 7, but that is what I bought. Total: $21.

I was so excited for them to come. But Friday, I checked my e-mail, and found this:

Valued Staples Customer,

We apologize again for our failure in accepting your order for Sharpie markers last week which we could not fulfill. As we do not have access to sufficient supplies to honor all of the orders, we will not be issuing any backorders or extending the price on the Sharpie special. However, to make up for the inconvenience, we are crediting the account you used $5 for each pack you attempted to order. We hope you will consider using this credit at Staples for a future order.

$35 to my USAA card!!! No sharpies, but that is an awesome "inconvenience" credit!!!

Coming Home

Jeremy is on his way home. I am SO glad. We missed him. I have been really busy holding down the fort while he was gone.

I like this picture because its shows just how much we have going on here. :) Toys, dogs, food, water, diapers, medication...

Noah's been a little fussy this week, especially in the evening. I am also sucking yellow boogers out of his nose...again. Poor guy, can't catch a break. :) I think I have a sinus infection too, so we are just loads of fun. (PS- got that cute sweatshirt from Kohls for $2.40 shipped to the house!)
Noah really is loving the bath tub right now, so we did a LOT of soaking. :) He soaked till he was really wrinkly!

He has also really been enjoying his new quilt that Terry gave him for Christmas! He loves the puppy dog ears. Can you believe how good he is sitting up!!?

Come home soon Jeremy! We missed you!

Our New Addition

Okay, not the most flattering picture...but...

Please welcome...my new Keriug coffee pot! It is AWESOME. Honestly, I though these things were totally over-rated. Until I tried it for myself...and I was amazed. I bought mine on Costco last week, and I eagerly counted down the days till it would come! Last night...there it was! I almost kissed the UPS man. :) It was super easy to set up, and as of last night, it was up and working. I love it, and I'm so excited to have this new addition to our household! Now it will be so easy for Jeremy to start my coffee-delivery-program. In bed. Can't wait.

Happy Wednesday!

Blow, Snack and Sleep

We were low. We were, as Jeremy says, "snack-less". We had no tissues, and Jeremy was down to the very last melatonin pill (he takes it a lot!).

This was a good weekend for couponing...although it is getting harder and harder to get a paper! Noah and I went to Walgreens and Rite Aid and stocked up on a few essentials.

We now have enough product to blow, snack and sleep to last us a long tim!

7 months

Can you believe that my baby is 7 months old? I've never really felt like time was flying until this month.

This little guy is awesome. He is starting to sit up on his own, beginning to feed himself finger foods, "talking" up a storm (when I can get his paci away from him), moving toys back and forth frm one hand to the other, banging toys together, playing with his feet (and eating them on occassion---can you believe he can get his foot into his mouth!!!), jumping like crazy, and eating all sorts of new foods.

Love this little guy!!!

Day Off

I had the day off today. It was wonderful.

My goal was for Noah and myself to stay in our pajamas until noon.

We woke up normal time (too early). Had a nice breakfast. Played. Took a long nap. Ate and played some more. Took a walk. Took another nap (#2). Played and ate some more.

Stayed in our PJs all day. It was wonderful.

Too bad about that old "work" thing.

A Few Pics

A few cute pictures from our trip to Arizona!

We missed you Steph!

Toy Box

I can't remember if I ever blogged about Noah's toy box. If I did, here it is again. If not, prepare to be amazed. :)

Jeremy made this awesome toy box for Noah. It is all oak, so it is pretty sturdy. It has special hinges so the heavy doors don't slam down on little fingers.

He took the front to the wood shop on base and had Noah's name and the airplane laser engraved on it.

Now that Noah is starting to move around a little more, the same 4 toys we have been giving him for 7 months don't seem to be cutting it. :) We brought it downstairs, and we are so excited to be able to enjoy it every day!

Hospital Monkey

Okay, so he is officually the cutest hospital patient I have ever seen.

After our urgent care visit on Friday, we stayed in Phoenix and completed breathing treatments every 4 hours. Noah and I flew home on Saturday, and although we were very excited to see Jeremy, Noah didn't seem to be feeling any better.

We tried to get ahold of the pediatrician, however it will be Tuesday before they are open again for appointments. Noah was wheezing pretty badly with every breath, and we didn't feel comfortable waiting until Tuesday.

So we brought him in to the ER. They ran a ton of tests, RSV test, flu test, chest x-ray, blood work, more breathing treatments. Everything came back negative except the chest x-ray, which showed a small right upper lobe infiltrate (translation= possible early pneumonia).

All of that to say, we really didn't know what was wrong with him! After an antibiotic shot and oral antibiotics to go, we headed home. The dr didn't really have anything for us besides what we were already doing.

He basically said that if it is viral, it just has to run its course. If it is bacterial, then the antibiotics will help. Continue (torture sessions) breathing treatments every 4 hours.

So guess we will see! Until that, all three of us are burnt out!