Stressful

Why does searching for a new job have to be so stressful?  I mean, it's part of life, right?  We all do it... We work, we gain experience, we move on.  That's the way the world goes round.  So why does it become so stressful and feel so overwhelming each time we start updating our resumes to start looking for a new job???

Ugh. I hate this.  Anyone out there want to just hire me? I don't even care if it's related to Civil Engineering at this point... Just something less stressful than the instability of where I currently am...

Prayers for a Friend

I couldn't sleep last night thinking about friends who lost their one of the precious baby boys yesterday.  They were born extremely early and Logan got an infection while in the NICU.  He fought for almost two weeks, but lost his battle yesterday.  I cannot even begin to imagine the pain they are feeling.  They also have a two-year old little girl.  How does one begin to explain to a two-year old that their baby brother has gone to heaven?  Words cannot express the sorrow I feel for them...

Please keep the Gutchak family in your prayers while they try to remain strong for their daughter and their other little boy, Landon, who is still fighting the good fight...

Christmas

We had a wonderful little first Christmas in our new house!  Although we missed being with family, it was definitely much more relaxing to be home and not driving around the great state of Michigan trying to see everyone!  We got to start some Christmas traditions of our own - including feeding the raindeer so they can find their way to our house and making Christmas cookies for Santa!  Belle had a blast and so did we.  Enjoy some of the pictures. :)

 Making cookies with Daddy for Santa

 Feeding the raindeer so they know how to get to our house.

 Good morning! Merry Christmas!

 Checking to make sure Santa came.

 Jake and Elwood opening their presents.

 Feeding her baby.  She's going to be SUCH  a great big sister! :)

Helping Daddy feed the birds.

16 and 18 Weeks

16 week baby bump

18 week baby bump (it's flying by...)

Little Angels

When we returned from Michigan last Monday, I witnessed two of the sweetest gestures from two of the smallest people on our flight... I am proud to say, one was my daughter.

When the plane landed, we were, once again, stuck on the tarmac. After about 15 minutes, a baby a few rows in front of us started crying. Belle was very concerned about the upset baby and wanted to give the baby her blanket to "make her all better". It was the sweetest thing, considering my girl never leaves home without her blankie!

After we got off the plane, we were at the luggage terminal and a little boy, no more than 3 or 4 was waiting with his grandparents and signing to the grandmother like a pro. Each time he wasn't sure she caught it all, he would repeat his signs. It was absolutely amazing to watch the interaction between the two of them. So much love with absolutely no words.

Thank God for these Little Angels!

Long Time Gone

Wow! It's been a tad bit since I have posted here... Quick updates that I can think of:

Belle:
- 2 more teeth (waiting on one more top 2 year molar and we are done with baby teeth)
- taling like a crazy lady and getting VERY sassy!
- going to be TWO in 13 days!!!!
- obsessed with Dora the Explorer......
- refuses to sleep these days

Nick:
- has basically become a single parent over the last couple months as my job has required way too much time and effort from me...
- same old same old

Jen:
- pregnant
- trying to remedy nick's problem #1
- same old same old

Dogs:
- being little shits...
- chewing on EVERYTHING
- peeing/pooping on the stairs on at least a weekly basis

We had a fabulous Halloween in our neighborhood! Our neighborhood does a hayride down a couple roads for the kids and then the people who are not on the hayride route park in the cul-de-sac at the end of the route and let the kids "trunk-or-treat". We then went to one neighbors house who has built a train in his backyard that carries the kids (and some adults) around the track. He had it all decorated up for Halloween with a grave yard and spooky music. It was really awesome. Belle had a fabulous time with the other kids! We sure do love our community! :)

We have some wonderful friends - Ben and Julia - who came out to help us on our house this weekend. We accomplished A LOT!!! We got the living room painted, cleaned and some things moved back in. We are just waiting for our new sofa and loveseat now! We got the tile in the entryway demo'ed (is it bad that the subflooring looks better than the old flooring?) and the accent walls painted. We still have to finish up the beige color on the rest of the walls in the entryway, but we'll get to it this week and next weekend. It's really coming together! I'm thrilled about it all!! :)

That's all I've got for a super quick update right now. We will be HOME November 20-29 (yes, we will be traveling on both Belle's and Nick's birthdays, but those are the flights we could afford). We cannot wait!!! I'm so excited to see family and friends! :-)

Croup and Teeth

Belle has been teething for what seems like 2 months now and one of the bottom molars FILALLY broke through Sunday! She is still drooling like a maniac and working on the other 3. It will be fabulous to be done with the teething for a little while, but thank goodness for teething tablets! She loves those things! She tells me in the morning and at night "tablet! tablet!" Maybe that's a bad thing??? Hey... whatever works! Don't judge me! :)

The Princess has also been having a nasty cough the last 3 or 4 nights (sounds very much like a bark) so I thought it might be croup. I took her to the doctor today and sure enough, she has croup. She also has very swollen tonsils, but no strep. I have a feeling she is going to be a kid with her tonsils removed. The doctor comments on how big they are every single time we go in and he does a strep test every time because they are so big... Let's hope it doesn't go to tonsil removal. Good news is, she will be on steroids for 3 days and I can already tell that it's helping. She has been asleep for over an hour and no coughing! Hope it clears up soon!

Oh - also - she is now 32 lbs 6 oz! Growing like a weed!

Potty Training

We are officially Potty Training!

I picked Isabelle up from daycare Thursday the teacher told me that Ms. Dana wanted me to know that Isabelle told her she had to go poop and she put her on the potty and she went! What a big girl!!! Then, she went almost all day Friday on the potty at daycare and she went at home a few times this weekend and even went on the potty at IKEA! She is making it very easy on us! Half the time she has already gone when she tells us she has to go, but at least she knows the feeling now! I hope it really is as easy as it is starting out to be!

Paci update - all went fabulously until Thursday night, when apparently Miss Belle realized she didn't have a paci anymore and now she cries for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours at naps and at bedtime... She is currently in her bed screaming "MAMA!!! I BROKED IT!" (she has a book in bed and I'm sure it is now in a million pieces).

Other updates - Belle has learned to blame the dogs... She came in from the sunroom today going "Elwood did it!" But I believe he really did do it because she was holding a broken acorn...

We still haven't gotten anything else done on the house. We have been too busy having people over or shopping for things we need to actually get any work done. We ALMOST got some furniture this weekend, but had to think on it last night... We decided we DO like it and will likely get it, but we didn't feel like spending another 3 hours driving there, ordering and driving back, so we didn't place the order. However, their "Labor Day Sale" is apparently not much of a sale... The last time we were in there, things were exactly the same price or lower than they were this weekend... we have the pictures to prove it!

Paci Free!

Yesterday was our first day going paci-free and so far, we have been getting by with flying colors! :) Isabelle crashed in the car without her paci for the first time yesterday on the way to the Rennisaince Festival - she didn't even ask for it. And then on the way back, she crashed again... This time she DID ask for it, but I just told her we didn't have one and she went right to sleep. She did find one somewhere last night and I took it from her and that cause quite a meltdown, but she got over it and I told her the paci's all have to go to the Paci Fairy so she can give them to other babies who need them. And she said "okay!" :) She's such a goof! Bedtime went great! She didn't even ask for it and she didn't make a peep all night. Naptime today, she asked for it and had a minor crying fit, but then she went right to sleep! I hope things stay this easy!! :) I love actually being able to hear what she's saying without that thing in her mouth!

New House

I have a few more pictures to post... Since some of you are not wanting to wait for the next 6 months as we finish things up... So here are some pics of the house - some before and some after. We will be repainting all rooms and replacing the lovely green carpet of the master room eventually, but given the dog expenses of the last week, some things are now on hold for a few months... thank goodness we had some extra money saved up for emergencies!!!

This is all I have for now... I'll have to get some of the sunroom, living room and dining room for you later... and "after" pics of the family room... My blog is screwed up right now so I cannot see the preview of the photos to label them for you... You'll just have to use your imagination! :)

Funny Farm News

Some of you have been seeing the posts on Facebook about all the sick kids and wondering what is going on... Well, apparently a little bit of land is just a little too much for these crazy kids!

To start off the weekend, Friday, I took Belle and myself to the urgent care clinic (since I haven't yet had time to find new doctors for us) because I have had this sore throat that just won't stop and Belle had started pulling on her ear again (even though she had just finished antibiotics for an ear infection the previous week). Well, we waited and waited and waited and two hours later (apparently not so urgent), the doc saw us for about 3 minutes and then we waited in the room for another 30 minutes for the nurse to check us out. Turns out, Belle still has an ear infection, so she's back on a new kind of antibiotics for 5 days. And apparently the cure for a sore throat that has lasted 4 weeks is "plenty of fluids and rest". Really, Doc??? You think so?? THAT'S going to happen... anyway, Belle is doing much better now; one more day of antibiotics! And today she came home with another bite on her arm - she got one on her second to last day at the old daycare too... she must just bring the biters out of the woodwork! I sure hope she doesn't turn into one because of all the bites she's getting!

I told you about Elwood's little thunderstorm incident last week, but Thursday evening, I was chasing him down prying his mouth open to retreive the trash he had stolen from the bathroom and discovered that he had managed to break a bunch of his teeth while being the doofus that he is... Jake had a vet appointment Saturday for his annual vaccinations, so I called to schedule Elwood at the same time (and since we had been our new house all of 4 days at that point, I have not had time to find another vet), so I just took them to our normal vet in Annapolis (not a 40 minute drive, going 15 mph over the speed limit all the way). The vet examines Elwoods mouth and makes a referral to the doggie dentist and says he'll probably need a root canal or extraction (which I already knew from doing my research the night before), so Elwood is put on antibiotics and pain killers for 2 weeks until I can get him in to the doggie dentist. So, we get home and a couple hours later, Jake starts limping around. I checked his leg to see if it was sore maybe where they gave him his shot, but I wasn't sure WHERE they gave him his shot because they took him out of the room to do it (which is normal at this place and that's cool by me). I called to ask them where he got his shots, but apparently he didn't actually GET any shots... just got the boardatella vaccine (which is a vaccine they just shoot up their noses) and they took blood. So, I just keep an eye on it and see what's up... Sunday, he won't put any pressure on it and now his foot is all red and swollen. I iced it a couple times, but figured it wasn't an EMERGENCY and didn't really feel like paying Sunday Emergency care fees, so I called today and took him in this evening after work... Back to Annapolis we go! So the doc takes some x-rays and didn't find any broken bones, but we DID get to see the interesting x-ray of his two-toed foot! (Our little Jacob Two-Toes now has a very swollen one toe... poor guy!) But she DID see a puncture on the pad of his foot that Nick and I couldn't see. So, she put HIM on antibiotics and anti-inflamatory meds for 2 weeks...

That makes 3 "kids" on antibiotics and Elwood is going to the doggie dentist on Wednesday...

And that, my friends, is today's news from the Funny Farm.

House Drama

Well, we are finally moved in!!! I hoe you aren't looking for pictures here, because you aren't going to get any yet! We had a very trying day yesterday... Here is our drama for the day...

We both took the day off because we had so much that we had to do. So, the cleaning lady came at 8:30 and brought her 22 year old daughter to help her out (which was great! Should move faster then!). Well, they didn’t really clean anything out… they vacuumed all the cupboards and everything instead of wiping them out… I don’t think they scrubbed the toilets or showers or anything (I wasn’t really WATCHING them because I had a million other things to do), but when I was putting my dishes away last night, the cupboards were still all dusty and nasty. When I gave Belle a bath, there was still fuzz and dust in the tub, so I just did a really quick wipe down with a wash cloth (because 1. she was already naked and ready for her bath and 2. I don’t know where my damn cleaning supplies are yet)… So… that cleaning lady = FAIL!!!!

The pool guy was scheduled to come at 8am – he actually showed up a couple minutes early and we weren’t back from dropping Belle off yet, but he just went back and did his thing, which was AWESOME! BUT the pool cover has a bunch of water and algae and tadpoles on it so he had to pump that off so he put the pump on the cover and let it run and the water level was low, so he put the hose in to get that going… so he came back about 2:00 and there was still a bunch of water on the cover and the water level hadn’t gone up much at all… Then he realized there was a hole in the cover, so all the water we were putting in was being pumped out… So we filled it to where it needed to be and they are coming back today to pull the cover off, clean it, patch it and clean the pool. So HOPEFULLY we have a working pool today!!! Right now, there are a million tadpoles in the water and a pile of critter bones on the second step. Pool guy = A-/B+ for taking charge, finding problem and coming back to fix it.

The Direct TV guy was scheduled 8-12. Noon comes and no Direct TV guy. So, Nick calls and he says “I’m running late, I’ll be there around 3:00.” Mind you – we still have 2-3 loads of stuff that needs to be picked up from the old house 40 MINUTES AWAY! So, it’s not like we can just run there really quickly and get a load and bring it back… So anyway, the cleaning lady finishes around 3:00 and Nick calls the Direct TV guy back and gets no answer. So he calls back every half hour or so and finally gets through at 5:30 and the guy says he’ll be there in 30 minutes… So he finally shows up at 6pm (10 hours late!!!!) and is there until 11:30 PM!!!!!!! And THEN he starts fishing around looking for a tip because it’s so late… yeah… I don’t think so dude. You show up 10 HOURS late and you get NOTHING!!!! And he kept us up several hours past what we wanted to be up to and on top of that, because we were waiting for that guy, we couldn’t go get the rest of our stuff at the old house, which is being cleaned today and now we are going to have to make multiple trips tonight because they are putting new carpet in tomorrow!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Oh, and the best part?? The guy didn’t even finish!!! He didn’t even get the cable run to the living room! He spent 3 hours putting the damn satellite on the roof and 2 hours trying to figure out how to get the cable into the crawlspace!!!!! Direct TV Guy = FAIL!!!

BUT we are all happy at the new place. Belle is definitely happier! She loves running outside with the dogs and running through the house and finding all the new stuff and hiding on me. J The really surprising thing is that both nick and I completely underestimated this space. We both thought it was so much smaller than it is and as we look at it, we are going “Oh my goodness! These rooms are HUGE!” and the pool especially… we both thought it was pretty small… but it’s really quite large!

A Trip Down Elwood Lane

For those of you not familiar with Elwood or the book Marley and Me, this may not be nearly as good of a trip...

Four (very long) years ago, we got this adorable little puppy and decided to call him Elwood. Those beautiful little blue puppy eyes and all that extra saggy baggy skin... Well, how could you not love him? And so he was adorable and snuggly and lovey... for a couple days... Little did we know that Elwood was full of piss and vinegar... and I'm talking - full to the brim... You can practically smell it coming out of his kennel... (oh wait... that WAS piss coming out of his kennel!)

A few short months after we brought him home, he began doing some crazy things... At first, we thought it was cute and then it was just strange and then just frustrating!!! About that time, I read the book 'Marley and Me' and realized I was not living with this so called "Elwood" - I was living with Marley's twin... I should have expected it. The evil face as he was beating up on Sophie the first weekend we had him should have been the first clue...

Or perhaps destroying his blanket a couple weeks later??? Nope. He still had us fooled with those adorable little puppy eyes!

I believe this was about the time I realized - this dog is not normal! Look at those green demon eyes...So, as time went by, Elwood began doing more and more strange things very akin to what Marley had done in the book - from jumping and knocking people down to challenging the professional dog trainers to bouncing like a kangaroo. Things were tough, but after the "2 week" training session (that turned into 7), we were making some big strides! Then we moved to Annapolis.

Car rides were not really his thing anyway - but after being sedated for 15 hours and stuffed in a tiny little car to travel across the country, car rides got worse. He started getting anxious in the car to the point where he even jumped out the window one day! Thankfully, we were at the park and getting ready to park and a nice man ran over and pushed him back in the window before he strangled himself on the leash.

However, the move to Maryland was tough on him - he was used to running in the yard all the time and suddenly all three of us were crammed into a 600 sft apartment with no place to move. We decided to start taking him to doggy daycare a couple times a week. He was loving it and was doing great! Until he got bit by another dog and ended up with 26 stitches which got infected and turned into a gigantor abscess.

Needless to say, the poor guy was not allowed to be active for two weeks... in Elwood terms - had to be sedated for two weeks and had to keep a shirt on to keep him from chewing on the wound. After that, things started getting REALLY crazy. This dog started getting aggressive toward other dogs and eventually toward strange people. And the anxiety started getting really bad. He panicked and barked all day when we left for work. We got him a bark collar (which is now completely useless because he doesn't care about the shock). He plowed through the screen window one day to chase a squirrel across the sidewalk... and he really just needed space to roam!!! So, we eventually moved to a little bigger place with a little backyard and to top it all off, we got him a Jake to play with... And a few months later, an Isabelle.

The anxiety and aggression started getting worse and worse and finally, we had to call in some more professionals. We now have some trainers who are with us for his lifetime and they have been great. However, we haven't needed them in several months because things have been going relatively smoothly... To the point where we could trust both dogs to be out during the day while we were at work. This was good for about a month... And then one day there was a thunderstorm... And we came home to discover the carpet ripped up in front of our bedroom where Elwood had panicked and tried to get into our room... Sooooooo... Back to the kennels they go during the day.

Oh - one other thing I forgot to mention... One evening, we were sitting in our little apartment and it was storming TERRIBLY outside. LOUD thunder, tons of lighting and rain so heavy you couldn't see the apartments across the sidewalk. THIS was this day that Elwood became terrified of both thunder and RAIN! This dog will not go to the bathroom if it is raining. He will hold it for days and even then, will typically only go outside if we shove him out.

Back to today. This morning - Nick puts the dogs in their kennels and we head out for the day. We had a busy evening ahead because we had to drop the truck off to get a bed liner installed so Nick came home quickly to let the dogs out... And greeting him when he comes in is a very, very submissive "I've-done-something-terribly-wrong" Elwood... Turns out, there was a thunder storm today... turns out, the rain the last couple days has kept him from going to the bathroom... turns out, dogs can't REALLY hold it for 3 days... turns out, dogs don't like sitting in their own poo... and turns out steel kennels don't hold back dogs terrified by storms...

The best part is, because we are moving out, the landlords are bringing people through to see the place, so we have to have them kenneled... It also turns out, duct tape works on dog kennels!!!

Fun Weekend

We had a fun weekend of swimming, relaxing and playing! Here are a couple photos for you...

The girl is on a taking her clothes of kick.

Jake got his first hair cut Saturday... He looks SO CUTE!!! :)
We were so sleepy after swimming...

Pictures

Yes, I realize it is time for some photo updates and just some updates in general that don't include me spending money!!! So, here goes: things are moving along on the house. We had inspections done last week and are just waiting on the results from the water tests. Everything else came back pretty good. There are a few things here and there that we will have to address, but since the sellers were so generous in accepting ALL of our offer, we are not going to knit-pick these things and ask them to do more. As long as the water tests come back fine and the fuel tank is removed, we will be satisfied. We are definitely looking forward to having more space, a lot of yard and a POOL since it has been sweltering the past couple weeks! We are scheduled to close on July 15 and I have started packing, but am finding space to put all the boxes... Have I mentioned before that we currently have a space issue???

Work for me has been not so good. We had another round of layoffs last week, including a couple very great friends. It's still pretty hard to take when these things happen... Especially tough when the people let go are so smart and, I feel like, such an asset to the team. There are some other people that could have been let go (and in my opinion - should - have been let go) and it wouldn't have hurt the team at all - either emotionally or professionally by removing the talent that they provide. I'm just hoping that these things do not go unnoticed by management and that I can contain myself and not do something to get myself on the next list, which I'm sure will be coming in the next couple weeks...

Our little Isabelle is just such a crack-up these days. She is talking up a storm and repeating everything. And I mean everything you say. Including "Oh Shit!" when I dropped something... And "geez!" when I was exasperated about something. And "poop!" when asked if she has pooped. She's a ham and a half and I just love her! I am supposed to start looking for a new daycare for her, but I am so torn about the whole situation that I just haven't done it yet... I don't know how she'll handle the move and being taken from the friends that she has been with every day for the past year and a half. She knows, loves and trusts them and I am sad to have to take her away from them. I am sad to have to take her away from her teacher(s) right now too. She is learning so much with Ms. Erin and she just adores her! This girl (she is probably in her mid 20's) is so great with Belle and so responsible and caring. Today, Belle spilled some of her lunch on her outfit, so instead of just letting her sit in it (like the old teacher would have), Ms. Erin changed her clothes and washed the dirty outfit. THEN she sent home a note that said "She had a bib on, but got food on her clothes. I washed it, but I couldn't get the stain out." How sweet is that? I am really going to miss her and some of the other teachers that we have grown to love too. I am sure we will be happy with the new place too (because I won't take my daughter someplace I am not happy with), but I am going to need some pointers on making this transition...

New to Isabelle's summer program at school is water time. Once a week, they do some water activities to help get the kids used to it. Well, the first day, I was a little concerned because I got a note home that said "Isabelle was acting very shy when she got her bathing suit on and didn't want to come out of the bathroom." Well, I had just bought that particular bathing suit, and while it is a 3T (a size larger than the clothing she is wearing right now), I hadn't tried it on her to see if it would fit or not... So, I kept thinking about this note and decided I would try the bathing suit on to 1. see how she reacted and 2. see how it fit... Well, the suit fit fine - like a bathing suit should - a little snug (don't want a baggy suit). She had a fit!!! She hated it and kept pulling it and saying "Off! Off!" So I took it off... Well, I happened to have a few more suits that I wanted to try... Another 1 piece from last year (size 2T). Same reaction. She had a 2 piece suit from last year that I was pretty sure wouldn't fit, but thought I'd give it a whirl - it was really short on the top (belly showing completely) and the bottoms totally did not fit - BUT she didn't mind it at all! So, finally I tried on a 1 piece suit that Grandma got her (size 4T) and it was baggy, but it didn't bother her one bit. So, my conclusion from the whole bathing suit blitz - Isabelle does not like clothing that feels tight around her tummy. So, I might have to get some larger sizes if she doesn't get used to the ones that actually fit soon!

And I finally some pictures!

Here is the first bathing suit that she was having issues with. It was too cute not to take a picture!
Eating crackers on the (I'm sure not-so-clean) floor and saying "cheese!" for the camera

Giving me her "What the hell do you want?!" look...

Beautiful baby blues

Can't get enough of this girl and those eyes!

New favorite game - hiding under the table! I think the "fort" stage is beginning! I can't wait!

Sitting in one princess chair and eating off the other...

Deals this Week

I am pretty proud of myself this week. I totally rocked it out in the savings, unfortunately, I am also trying to pack for the upcoming move and when I keep going buck-wild buying stuff, it's just that much more to pack and find a place for!!! It's starting to be a terrible addiction... But I'm really hoping that I'll have enough stuff so that when another baby comes along and things are tighter, I won't have to buy stuff... We'll see how it goes! Here are my deals for the week (so far - just read about a few more great deals at Target that I'll have to stop in for tomorrow).

Target (okay, so I made 3 trips to Target in the last 3 days, so this is kind of just a total here and the list is long... SORRY!):
4- J&J Baby Body wash
2- J&J Baby lotion
2- Wii Classic Controllers (these were father's day presents - NOT on sale...)
1- Candy
1- Welsch's Grape Juice
1 - Can Campbell's Spaghetti and Meatballs
2- Boxes Quaker Oatmeal
1- Box Lipton Tea
3- 10 packs Ivory bar soap
4- Olay Total Effects Body Wash
2- Boxes Kleenex hand towels
1- 3pk Scotch packaging tape
1- Roll Scotch wrapping paper
1- Pack Huggies Little Swimmers
6- Renuzit Air Freshners
2- Glade fabric freshners
1- Real Simple Magazine (just for fun... No coupons here)
2- Aveeno Body Wash
1- Satin Care shave gel
1- Nivea Q10 Men's shave gel
2- Pine sol cleaner
4- Scrubbing Bubbles cleaners (various types)
10- Sobe lifewater (these are SOOO yummy!)
8- Littlest Pet Shop toys
1 - Clean and clear face wash
1 - Bag Caribou coffee beans
Weekly stuff: Loaf of bread, milk, lactaid milk
Total Spent: $114.60 (damn Wii remotes totally threw this off!!!)
Total Saved: $109.38

Rite Aid
1- Gillette Fusion Proglide Power razor
6- Sample packs of Tugaboo diapers (12 diapers)
2- boxes U by Kotex products
2- Orajel toddler toothpaste
2- AirWick iMotion air freshners
1- Finish Quantumatic automatic dispenser
2 - Physician's Formula makeup
Total Spent: $15.11
Total Saved: $84.05 (I love this store!) OH! AND I'll get $8 in refunds from this stuff...

CVS
1- Colgate Total toothpaste
1- Gillette Fusion Proglide Razor
2- Off Clip On repellants
Total Spent: $3.54
Total Saved: $32.92 (started with $8 ECBs, ended with $7 ECBs)

And I think we are offically going to have a delicious smelling new house with all the air freshners I got at fabulous deals this week! :)

Thanks for the Toots!

I was giving Belle a bath yesterday and as I was washing her hair, she "made some bubbles"... So I said "Oh no! Did you toot?" And what did she say????

"YOU'RE WELCOME!"

stuff

We finally got the signed contract back from the sellers on our house. They accepted everything as is!!! We will be getting inspections done on Thursday. I'm hoping everything goes well... If so, we will be closing on July 15!!! :) Will keep you posted.

Our silly little girl is doing an awful lot of talking these days! She repeats everything... and I mean EVERYTHING!!! from "Geez!!" to "no" to "not important" and everything in between. She's so smart and just plain hilarious! I sure do love that girl!!!

New Banner

So, the new banner is my first attempt at photoshop! Not the greatest, but not too shabby for a first try!!! :) I'm going to keep working on it so I can start working on some scrapbooks! :)

And here's a pretty picture from today...

A House! A House!!

We finally heard back from our realtor... Looks like we will be getting a house!!! The other realtor said that they made no mention of changing anything and it sounds like they are just going to sign it as is! But we won't have the official paperwork back in to see this until Thursday, so she said we can be excited, but not OVERLY excited... I think what I'm feeling qualifies as overly excited! :) hehehee Thanks so much everyone for your thoughts, prayers and well-wishes! :)

Diapers Galore

Okay... So - I went to CVS Thursday because I heard that they had diapers on clearance... And they did - I got 4 packs of size 5 diapers for $2.37 each!!! Well, then I thought it through and decided I should go back and get a bunch of these in smaller sizes for the next baby... Well, I went back Friday and they were no longer marked down! :( Bummer deal!!! Well, today I had to go do my weekly CVS'ing, so I price checked the diapers at my normal store - and they had them marked down again! But only in sizes 4 and 5 and they only had 1 pack of these left... Well, they had larger packs marked down to $6.99 which was still half price and I needed to spend $10 more to get my $10 off $50 purchase coupon. So I picked up a couple packs of these diapers... Later in the day, I had to go to Annapolis to do my Target'ing and thought I would swing by CVS there and I checked their diapers... And I found the larger packs that I had just paid $6.99 for at my normal store were $3.49!!! $3.49!! For 46 diapers! However, these were only for the size 5... So, I bought ALL 7 packs that they had and then I found refill packs of wipes for $1.44-$3.69! So I bought all those too... :) And then I needed another $8 for my $10 off $50 coupon so I grabbed a pack of pampers swaddlers newborn that were on sale and I had a coupon for them... So this is what my two CVS trips looked like today:

1- Johnson and Johnson baby bubble bath

1- Johnson and Johnson 20 oz shampoo

2- 30ct Lactaid pills

1- John Frieda Root Awakening Shampoo

1- John Frieda Root Awakening Conditioner

2- Colgate toothpaste

1- 34ct pack CVS brand size 4 diapers

9- 46ct pack CVS brand size 5 diapers

1- 34ct pack Pampers Swaddlers Newborn diapers

4- 216ct CVS brand wipes

2- 144 ct CVS brand wipes

Total spent: $56.23

Total saved: $188.08

AND they overcharged me by $2.49 for my shampoo so I will have to go get my money back! :)

The loot and receipt from my second trip...

New House? Maybe...

Well, we finally did it... We put an offer in on a house! Keep your fingers crossed for us! We should find out by Friday if they accept our offer or not...

Deals this Week

Yeah - TOTALLY rocked it out this week shopping...

At CVS, I got:

• 4 mens Gillette body wash (on sale $4.00 ea)
• 1 jumbo pack Pampers Swaddlers (they didn't have Belle's size, so I got some for whenever the next kid comes along!! on sale $8.99)
• 1 bag peanut butter m&m's (on sale $1.98)
• 1 father's day card for Nick ($4.99)
• 1 dove dark chocolate bar (on sale $0.48)

Spent: $0.50 (and got $8.00 ECB back for next week)

Saved: $43.36

At Rite Aid:

• 1 sample pack Tugaboos diapers ($0.99)
• 1 bottle Visine Eye drops ($4.99)

Spent: $-0.06 (YES!!!! They actually GAVE me money back!!!)

Saved: $5.98

Just Because...

she's so darn cute!

How far does a dollar go?

Pretty proud of myself this week on my deals! I can't list everything I got at Target because it was just too much, but a few highlights:

• 2 Schick Hydro 5 Razors - free! (actually, a $1 money maker after the gift card I got back!)
• 2 Off Clip On repellers - $2.50 each
• 1 Nivea body wash - free!

I can't remember anything else that was a fabulous deal (because I already got rid of the receipt) BUT I spent $92 and saved $85! :)

I did great at Rite Aid:

• 8 single rolls of Bounty Basic paper towels
• 3-2.5 oz Aveeno body lotion
• 2 cans Schick Hyrdo shave gel
• 2 boxes Kotex tampons
• 3-24 ct boxes of Excedrin Migraine

Total Spent: $10.39 (and I should get $8 in rebates back!)

Total Saved: $40.33

But, my favorite deal so far is at CVS!

• 2-22 ct Carefree pantiliners
• 3 large bags of M&M's
• 2 bottles Pantene Pro-V Shampoo/Conditioner
• 2 Right Guard Total Defense 5 deodorant
• 2 packs Mentos gum

Total Spent: $1.15!!! (plus $7 in ECB's for next week!)

Total Saved: $36.34

Seriously - why isn't EVERYONE doing this?!?!?

New stuff

Somewhere along the way, our little baby sprouted into a little girl... She is so smart and interactive and just plain hilarious these days!!! Today, she started saying "Please" instead of just whining for something... She says "Thank you" and "You're Welcome" all the time!!! She doesn't always get it in the right context - she'll hand you something and say "thank you" or you give her something and she says "welcome!" but I'll take all the manners I can get!!! Some other words she is now saying:

• Puppy (pupa)


• Juice


• Bath


• Night night


• Hi


• Bye bye


• Momma


• Daddy


• Mine!


• Nice


• Bump


• Bird


• Duck


• Eat


• Bad Dog


• Shoes


• Clock


• Plane (Airplane - but mostly when she sees one, she points and says "car!")


• Truck


• Car


• Ouch!


• Yuck!

We spend a lot of time reading the board books with the pictures of things. She can identify almost all of the pictures for the letters A-D - then she gets antsy and tosses the book on the floor... I don't think we've ever made it past the "F" page... She knows some of her ABC's already!!! Tonight, she laid down on the changing table and sang "A-B-C-D-E-F"! I couldn't believe it!!! Yesterday, I was singing the abc's for her and stopped every now and again and she chimed right in with E and H at the right points! She can count to 3. She can ALMOST put her own shoes on (she has gotten one on one time, but then took it back off immediately).

Some of her favorite things right now are: playing outside, playing with Jake, building block towers (she will sit with her mega blocks and find all the ones that have the same amount of bumps adn put them all together. She even puts them in patterns sometimes which seems like it is probably just an accident, but when you watch her, she will put them together, then take them apart and rearrange the colors until she gets it exactly like she likes it and usually it ends up in some sort of pattern... it's amazing!), playing chase with Daddy - really just hanging out with daddy in general... She is so not a fan of Mommy right now, which kind of breaks my heart, but it is always so sweet to watch the two of them interact. :)

Anyway, that's all I can think of right now. Here is a picture for you. :)

CVS deals this week!

Well, I was in migraine mode again (aka - bedridden) until about 1:00 Sunday, so I didn't really have my stuff together for my Sunday Target trip... So I didn't really save much there this week (but I DID get 6 boxes of Special K Red Berries for $1.39 each!) Also didn't do THAT great at Giant - spent $57.57 and saved $23.82 - not too bad, but not that great... However, I DID do a great job at CVS today!!! Here is what I got:

• 3 Nivea Body Wash (on sale for $4.88)
• 1 Nivea chapstick (on sale for $3.19)
• 2 Colgate Total ($2.99)
• 1 double pack Reach Toothbrushes ($3.99)
• 2 - 12 pk CVS brand AA batteries ($6.89 BOGO)
• 2 - 100 ct Sundown Vitamin D caplets ($7.99 BOGO)
• 2 - 60 ct Sundown Flax Oil Vitamins ($7.19 BOGO)
• 1 milkyway (Nick's request - oh and $0.89)

Spent $13.48

Saved $71.71! (and got $11 in ECB's for next time!)

Haven't made it to RiteAid yet either, but I'm planning on getting there Wednesday and I think there are some good deals to be had there too... I am also planning another trip to Target to get some good deals on treats for the dogs and granola bars... :)

Boo-Boo's

Tough girl with her boo-boos. She woke up from her nap this afternoon with diahrea and a 102.0 temp so she got sent home from daycare and is out for tomorrow too. Grandma and Uncle J will be here tomorrow night and get to play with the peanut Friday and all weekend long! We are looking forward to it!

Tough Girl

She fought the mulch and the mulch won... She took a digger face first off the slide at daycare into the mulch and got all scraped up... AND NEVER CRIED!!!! That's my tough little cookie! :) I'm pretty sure she's going to have a black eye tomorrow - the marks on her eye were getting quite dark by the end of the evening.

Also, we went to the doctor today to check out the goopie eye situation and it IS just allergies so she has drops to put in her eyes twice a day. But she did have her first fever today as well - just mild grade at 100.9 degrees. I gave her some Tylenol before bed and just checked on her and she is longer feeling warm so that's good. I'm hoping she's feeling better tomorrow and that the eye drops start to take effect tonight and we awake with no eye boogies tomorrow.

And More about our Life

So, not a whole lot of updates here, but there are a few things that I should share. :)

We went to look at some more houses this weekend. Sorely disapointed in some but happy with some others. We finally found one that we both really loved. We think it might be do-able in a few weeks (after a little more saving). It's a very nice home that is ready to move in and we wouldn't have to do any immediate updates (we both even like the current color schemes so painting isn't even a MUST, which is really nice). There are things that we would eventually have to do like fence the yard for the dogs and we would like to enhance the patio area and things like that, but there is nothing that HAS to be done. It's at the high end of what we want to spend and that's assuming they will come down to our offer price... BUT we are hoping that it will still be available in 3 weeks and we will have the money to make an offer by then... Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Belle is growing like crazy. She has learned to climb out of her bed... She is too dang tall for her own good! Luckily she has only tried to do it so far when we are IN the room and she hasn't braved tryign it on her own yet. *knock on wood* We will probably be switching her bed over to a toddler bed pretty soon but the problem is that the door to her room doesn't quit latch so she can ALSO open the door, which happens to be directly at the top of the stairs... NOT a good combo. So we are hoping she'll stay in her bed for a little bit longer (until we get that house)! This morning, she woke up with her little eyes crusted shut and crusty boogies all over her nose... SO we will be making another trip to the doc tomorrow to see what's going on. I'm hoping it's just allergies and not pink eye or something stupid... At least we know the allergy meds work - plus with pink eye, she can't go to daycare until it's cleared up...

We are finally going to have some company! My mom and brother will be coming out this weekend for a few days. I'm really looking forward to it! And then at the end of May, Nick's parents are coming out. It's always nice to have family around!!!

I think that's it for us. The dogs are whining and driving me crazy and it's ridiculously late (again). So I'm going to leave you with some pictures and will try to update again in less then a month! :)