Spontaneous

...is not a word that I really have in my daily vocabulary. Actually, I kind of cringe when I hear it. I work better with a plan. That's just my personality. Even though I'm a stickler for a plan/routine, there are times when being spontaneous can be a good thing. Yesterday Ry called me up and surprised me with a free airline ticket that HAD to be used by Monday. I was like, "Say WHAT?!" What in the world am I going to do? After a few phone calls...I can now say I'm headed to San Diego (by myself) for the weekend to visit Ashley!!!


(She's the O, I'm the Y)
Ash and I met our freshman year at BYU. We lived on the same floor and quickly became inseparable. We were like two peas in a pod. I swear there were so many times that I would walk into Chem 101 and we'd be wearing the same exact outfit just by chance. We had so much fun and were always up to something. During our freshman year, BYU gave us a week off for the Winter Olympics so we high tailed it to LA (where she's from) to hang out in the sun. We even ended up going with a bunch of friends to Price is Right while we were down there.



We haven't seen each other since Ry and I moved to Santa Clara back in 2004. It's been so long! I'm so excited to go! I don't even know what to do with myself! I haven't traveled by myself in over 4 years! What am I going to do?! My husband is so awesome! Thanks for making this happen, Ry!

Engaged!

As I was writing my last post, I was able to look through all my old wedding photos and came across this little cutie, my younger brother (I can't say little because he is a lot taller than me). Well, he gave me a call last night to tell me that he got engaged! Hooray! I'm so excited! I just love his fiancee, Crystal! I'm so happy that she's going to be my sister-in-law! Can't wait until August 15th! Congrats you guys!

6 Years Ago

I'm a day late, but I really wanted these pictures on here so there was a slight delay. This is where I was 6 years ago...





You never know what life will be like after that day. I just find myself constantly thinking that I am so glad that we found each other. Our personalities compliment each other so well and we do so much for each other. I couldn't imagaine making it through life with anyone else, I don't know what I'd do without him! Happy Anniversary!

7 Months!

 

I can't even believe that Max is already 7 months this week! It's crazy! We are now heading into the life of mobility! Max rolls just about everywhere and is starting to crawl a tiny bit. He only crawls backwards or in circles, but I have a feeling that he'll be moving on to bigger and better things soon. For a moment I thought that Max wouldn't be super active like E, but all those thoughts are out the window now. He's just as vocal, loud, wiggly, busy, and active as his older brother! The minute you put him in the exersaucer he is riding it like a horse AND he talks VERY loud to his other baby friends in Sunday School.

 

He is so happy all the time and is pretty good about just going with the flow. He hasn't gotten any teeth yet, but I think he might have something brewing soon. Most people say he looks just like his brother and I'd have to agree. E loves it when people say it too...and if they don't, then he tells them.

 

He's got more dark hair coming in so I think he might be a brunette, but who knows once summer rolls around. Max loves riding in the front part of the grocery cart now that he can sit up so well. He's an angel at the store since he can look around at all the things going on around him (especially E running around doing something). Max is such a cute baby! I know I'm partial because I'm his mother, but he seriously looks like a little Gerber baby. He has this perfect milky skin, big blue eyes, chubby little cheeks, and a little swoop of hair. Another Elmer heart breaker!

Deals of the Week

We bought a vehicle (pictures to come)!!! I can get around town without bumming rides off people! Hooray! So obviously the couponing continues! Saturday I hit up Target and then today I went to CVS and Walgreens and this is what I got:

Target:

Tips for Target: Go to the Target website and check out their printable coupons. You can use the Target coupons on top of manufacturer's coupons so you can save tons if you find the right deals. My total for this transaction was $5.43.

Kashi Waffles: 1.99 I paid 0.50
I got 2 1.50 coupons from the Vocalpoint website

Easy Mac: 0.77 I paid 0.27
Target had $1 off 2 coupons

Colgate Wisp: 1.99 I paid 1.00
Target 0.50 Q
Manufacturer 0.50 Q

Dove Body Wash: 2.99 I paid .49
Target 1.00 Q
Manufacturer 1.50 Q

Oreo Sticks: 2.99 I paid 1.50
2 Manufacturer $1 off
Target $1 off 2

Johnson Baby Q tips: 1.29 I made 0.46 off each one
$3 off 3 Johnson products Q
3 0.75 off Johnson Target Q

Fruit snacks: 0.89 I made 0.11 off each one
$1 off Target fruit snacks

CVS:
Tips for CVS: There is a scanner at the front of the store where you can scan your Extra Care card and it spits out all kinds of fun coupons. I got $3.50 if Extra Care Bucks just for swiping it the other day! Last week I walked out of there paying only $4 and earned $6.99 Extra Care Bucks to spend later. I ended up using those to get the deal I got today. My total today was 0.19 and I earned $5 Extra Care Bucks for later.
My first transaction was the Crest toothpaste. It was on sale for $2.88. I had a 0.75 Q from the Sunday paper and then used $2 of my Extra Care Bucks. I paid 0.18 and received $2 Extra Care Bucks back.

Second Transaction was the Tresemme. They were on sale 3 for $10. I had 3 $1 Q's that I printed from online bringing the total to $7. I used the $6.99 I had in Extra Care Bucks and had to only pay 0.01! Then I received $5 in Extra Care Bucks to use for later!

Last, but not least, Walgreens:
My total was $5.38.
Post Cereal was on sale for 2/$5. I paid 0.50 each
2 $2 Manufacturer's Q's from the Post website

Dental Floss 1.79 I paid 0.25 each
Walgreens Sale 0.99
Manufacturer's Q $1.50 off 2

Physician's Formula Make up: I paid $2.19 each
Tinted Moisturizer 10.99
Eyeshadow 9.99
On sale for 40% off
2 $1 off Q's
$10 mail in rebate

Great Deals!

As you know, I have been living without a car for almost 2 weeks now so the couponing has been a little slow. Lucky for me I have great friends so I hitched a ride with my friend when she went to Target this morning. Great stuff today! I went to Walgreens, Target, and Albertson's and for everything pictured I paid a totally of $8.36! And here's the receipt to prove it. I circled my totals and my savings.


So here is the breakdown...

Walgreens:
2 packages of hair elastics- $2/package + receive $2 register reward= free

Albertsons:
1 gallon of milk- 2.69- used free milk coupon from previous cereal purchase
3 packages of muffin mix- $1/package used 2 .$45 coupons and 1 .40 coupon, both doubled
total......0.08!!! I walked out of Albertsons and only paid in change!

Target:
2 bottles Johnson's lotion- 2.19
Target $1 off coupon
Johnson's $1 off coupon.....0.19/bottle

1 bottle desitin cream- 3.49
Target $1 off
Desitin $1 off.....1.49/bottle

1 buddies soap-0.97
$1 off.........0.03 overage

Hershey's Bliss- 1/2 off from Easter 1.64
Target $1 Q
Bliss $1 Q............0.36 overage

2 bottles V8 fusion- 2.99
$2 Q.....0.99/bottle

Dove body wash-2.99
Target $1 Q
Dove $1.50 Q......0.49/bottle

2 Dry Idea Deodorant- $2
$2 Q.....free

2 Betty Crocker Warm Delights- 1.62/package
Target 1.00 off 2
.55 coupon
.50 coupon...........0.60/package

2 cans Pringles-1.59/can
Target 0.75 off 2
$1 off 2..............0.70/can

1 box Rice cereal-3.19
$3 off Gerber.......0.19/box

So my total for everything today should have been 49.20 so I saved a total of 40.74!

Happy Easter!

We've had some very fun Easter festivities this weekend! We started off with some car shopping...always a fun adventure. Then we headed down to Ry's parents for "Easter Eggstravaganza." G'ma prepared a fun filled evening of dinner and lots and lots of fun games and activities for the boys. They played golf, darts, ring toss, and bean bag toss to win little eggs.


G'pa did a little spiritual lesson about Christ and the Resurrection and while we were doing that everyone else hid eggs for the big Easter egg hunt. G'ma got these super cute eggs that when you hide them they say "Come find me" so the kids had to listen and try to find them.

The egg hunting didn't end there. Grammie put together some eggs that could float in the hot tub so we had a little hunt out there.
The boys had so much fun!


Today the boys had their cute little vests to wear to church. I was so looking forward to E singing for the first time with the Primary, but he got half way up there and then ended up running back and pouting. He did NOT want to go up there! He must have been really tired from last night's festivities AND was coming off his sugar high because he snuggled up with me and fell asleep during sacrament meeting. He even slept through the rest of church! We are the last ward in the building so I just sat with him while he slept and then Ry sat with him the last hour. Max, on the other hand, did not sleep at all during church. While we were at church, my parents came up and started getting Easter dinner ready. Can I tell you how nice it is to come home to home cooked meal?! E got to go on an Easter egg hunt throughout the house and especially loved the eggs with "a hundred thousand dollars" in them. He also got a really fun fire engine puzzle that he put together with Nanny and then played trains with Papa. It's always great to be able to spend time with family!

E has had so much fun this weekend! I feel bad that things won't be quite this fun tomorrow and I have to remember to hide the candy or else I'll be dealing with a monster.

Sticky Work

I am up to my eyeballs in freezer jam! I went to Wal Mart yesterday to pick up a few things for Easter dinner and came across strawberries at $1 a carton. So I decided to make my yearly batch of freezer jam. I like to make a lot so I can tuck a little jar in with the meals that I take to people. It's been a long, sticky day! But freezer jam lasts at least a year in the freezer so make it once and you're good for a full year. Not bad for a days work and a great way to save!

Last Week

 

I really need to blog better, I've gone off the deep end of updates. Other things have taken priority these days like trying to find a car, taking care of kids, and getting sweet deals. I've got to get more pictures uploaded and just sit down and update. But for now, this will have to do.

Last week I was out and about by at my mom's and E got to play on this fun playground while we were there. It was a gorgous day once the sun came out so we were able to enjoy a nice afternoon. I don't know if any of guys have gone through this or are going through this right now...but do your kids just like being in their underwear all the time? I swear the minute we set foot in the house, he is stripped down to his undies and will stay in them all day. I can't keep clothes on the kid! And if I make him get into clothes, he just ends up putting on his PJs! Any tips on how to keep clothes on my child? It's only going to get worse when the Texas heat comes rolling in!

Max is doing really well! He slept through the night once last Sunday. It only happened once, but it happened! Huge milestone for us! He is just such a sweet, little baby. He definitely chooses who he'll smile at and who makes him cry though. It's kind of funny to see him interact with certain people or meeting a new person. Sometimes he'll be all giggly and flirty with people and other times he just scrunches up and bawls. He especially cries while we're at activity days because the girls are a little bit too much for him. He cries the minute he gets there and doesn't really stop until the closing prayer when they're quiet.

I'm still doing the whole coupon game. I've been finding pretty great deals each week and I've enjoyed "talking shop" with a few of my friends to exchange deal tips. There have been a few requests about the whole coupon thing so I might post a few coupon posts for those of you that are interested. Just today I scored 7 big boxes of cereal, 3 gallons of milk, and a box of poptarts for $7! Luckily the free milk came in coupon form and they expire each week so I'll get my weekly gallon of milk for free for the next 3 weeks. This coupon thing has been amazing! I have been able to cut my grocery bill in half and get double the amount of groceries! I've gotten so good at it that we've had to purchase some extra shelves for it all. I really wanted to increase my food storage, but I didn't want to pay for it. Sounds bad...I know...and I felt so guilty for not having any food storage, but this has totally solved my problem! I'm increasing my food storage, saving money, and having fun doing it.

Now if only shopping for a car was this fun...

RIP Corolla 2005-2009

The insurance adjuster came and declared our car "totaled." I guess we're going to be car shopping this weekend.

In an Instant

Life can truly change "in an instant." I've always heard that and it's totally true, but never really experienced it until yesterday. I was talking to Ryan on his way home from work yesterday. He was mid sentence when he made a funny noise and then it sounded like the phone dropped and the phone hung up. It was really weird. I tried calling him back, but he didn't answer. Then I started to get a little worried. I didn't know what in the world happened. Well he called me back after a few minutes to tell me that he had been in a car accident. He was fine, but the car wasn't and that he'd call me back later. So I sat at home and waited the longest period of time in my life. My mind just stated racing...What happened? Is Ry really okay? Are the other people okay? What does our car look like? Do I need to pick him up? How much is this going to cost? A million things are running through my head at this point. Finally, he calls me back and gives me the low down of what happened. We're not really sure who is at fault so I'm not exactly sure how much I can share due to legal purposes. But basically the cars collided on the freeway just after an overpass, Ry did a 360, went down a steep embankment, and ended up on the service road below. He is so lucky that he didn't get hit again on the service road! The lady's car ended up stopping on the grassy embankment. This is what our car looks like now.




Ry tried driving home, but there ended up being a whole in the tire so he had to pull over and change it. So now we have the spare on. He's out right now getting estimates on what the repairs will be. We can't shut the door, the glove box won't close, the trunk had a hard time opening and closing, basically are car is jacked up. I'm so sad. I loved the little Corolla. It was the first car that Ry and I bought together and my grandpa was the dealer that helped us pick it out. We bought it back before E was born so it's only 4 years old. So we'll see what happens. Luckily everyone is okay and no one was hurt. Just the cars. I definitely had a little dose of perspective yesterday. I'm so grateful that Ry is safe and that we live within our means. It really stinks that this had to happen, but it's just a car, it can be replaced and thankfully we have money set aside for emergencies like this. Life can truly change in an instant, but thankfully the Lord protects us.

Our Garden

It's that time of year again! Last Saturday we planted our little garden for the Spring/Summer. My Rosemary is still going strong after 2 years believe it or not. I trimmed so much off of it that day that I ended up with 14 bundles of it! Definitely had to give some away. We've got Roma tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos, and basil. I'm going to try and get some good salsa this year! While we were planting, we came across our little frog friend. E was mesmerized by him and for whatever reason, he kept wanting to blow him and make him jump around. Ry convinced him to try and hold it, but he kept trying to blow on him. Boys!

A Little Getaway

Ry just finished up a Chuy's in Selma, Texas (just outside of San Antonio). So the big VIP dinner was on Monday and we worked it out so I could go along with him. My mom came and watched the boys and we drove down to Selma. It was about a 5 hour drive down there, not too bad. We stayed right in San Anotiono, down by the Riverwalk, it was gorgous! Ry had meetings in the afternoon so he dropped me off at our hotel so I could relax. Oh my gosh! It was so nice to have some quiet time to myself and catch up on the book I've been reading. I even had a moment when I heard the "phantom baby cry" a few times. You know when you think you hear the baby cry and it's really nothing. After all his meetings we had some awesome Chuy's Mexican (definitely didn't follow boot camp protocol that night). Our hotel was right on the Riverwalk so we were able to walk around later that night. The weather was awesome and the flowers were totally blooming so it was quite a wonderful walk. We drove home the next day so our trip was quite short, but SO needed. I really needed a break! Ry, I will be your travel buddy any day!

Blogging Backlog: My Happenings

I've been staying really busy with the kids and trying to stay positive with all the lack of sleep (emphasis on "trying", I'm not perfect). Everything has gotten soooo much better. It's truly amazing how much better I feel just after 2 weeks of decent sleep. Plus, boot camp really energizes me and helps me remember to push myself even when I want to quit. Love it!

I'm back in the kitchen making baby food again. I loved doing it for E when he was starting solids so I decided to take a crack at it with Max. I only spent 1 afternoon making up sweet potatoes, pears, and apples and then I make up bananas as they get really ripe. I puree up my cooked fruits and veggies and spoon them into ice cube trays since that makes about a 1 ounce serving. Then once the trays are pretty frozen, I dump them into big freezer bags. That way I can just pop a couple cubes in the microwave as I need them. Quick, easy, and I know exactly what's going into my child. Plus it is so cheap to do it this way and you can make it all organic for half the price.

I had a little calling change happen a couple weeks ago. Last May I was released from Young Women's when Ry got called to Young Men's and I got called to be the Gospel Doctrine Instructor. Well, I got changed yet again. I'm now doing Activity Days! How fun is that?! There are a ton of girls in there, but they're at such a fun age. Everything is so fun to them and they really aren't too picky. But what the best part about it is that I'm working with mybest friend! We must be living right or something! This is the little "assignment board" that I made up the other night. We draw names to see who has certain assignments in order to make it fair to everyone.

I've also gotten into couponing lately, as you can tell from my latest posts. My whole mentality on shopping and saving has changed. Seriously. I could kick myself for paying full price for so long. It's so much fun to walk out of the store and have the store clerks look at you and wonder how in the heck you just paid $2.50 for $40 worth of stuff. I'm sure there will be more coupon posts to come. I've had a lot of people asking for some more tips so I might start a few posts on couponing tips in the future. So get ready!

Blogging Backlog: Max's Happenings

Max has been doing really well the past 2 weeks. The first 5 months of his life have been really rough, but I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It just seems like it's been one thing after another with him and it felt like I would never have a good night's rest. It got to the point where I was in such a "funk" that I hated the feeling of not sleeping and all the side effects from it.

I ended up having to go on antibiotics again and the last time that happened it totally made Max's digestive tract go crazy and I really didn't want to go through that again so I just decided to wean him and put him on formula. At first I felt really guilty since I nursed E for a year and I was expecting to do that with Max, but I got over it real fast. It's actually so nice now. I always felt like I was second guessing myself with Max since he is such a sensitive baby...is he getting enough? was it something I ate? is he still hungry? is he just crying because he wants to cry? what am I doing wrong? why isn't he sleeping? Formula has taken a lot of the guess work out of the situation so formula has made things so nice for us!

Since we made the change to formula, I also decided to get this whole sleep thing worked out too. I told Ry that I'm just going to re-read all the sleep books that I read with E and give each book 2 weeks and if it didn't work then I'd move on to the next one. I started off with Babywise and it worked after about 5 days and we are now on to much better naps and nights. I stopped swaddling him, got rid of the reflux wedge that the Dr. had him sleeping on, and I started sleeping him on his tummy. Now he is the easiest baby to put down! Oh my goodness! Maybe this whole no binky thing is a good thing?! I just remember with E having to go put in his binky all the time and since Max has learned to put himself to sleep without one, it makes life so nice! He wakes up once in the night and for awhile he was my alarm clock for boot camp (up at 4:45 for the day), but we're trying to get him to sleep until 6:30. It's going pretty well.

It's amazing how things change when a baby sleeps well! He's happier, I'm happier, who can ask for anything more?! He's starting to roll all over the place and he can sit up a little bit on his own. So we're beginning the phase of mobility. Time to baby proof! He's also enjoying the world of new foods. So far he's tried bananas, sweet potatoes, and apples. Not a big fan of bananas which is kind of surprising, but we'll keep trying.

So Max is doing a lot better these past few weeks and is growing up so much! He'll be 6 months on Sunday! We're going to have to celebrate!

Blogging Backlog: E's Happenings

During my haze of no sleep, my blogging took a backseat and survivor mode took over. Things have gotten better in the sleep department so I'm trying to catch up on everything. So these were suppose to be my posts during those long, long months of no sleep.

 

E took a little basketball class through our local parks and rec. Ry had a church meeting one Saturday and couldn't take him so my dad offered to come up and have a little grandson time. They learned how to dribble, pass, and shoot and E is still trying to learn how to pay attention to instructions and be apart of the group. He loved his little class and now he likes to dribble out in the garage when it's cold outside.

E has also been enjoying his Sunbeam class. I was reading the parents' newsletter that his teacher writes. She just lets us know what they're learning about, includes reminders of anything, and tells us what's going on. In this particular newsletter she told us about their eggs. She has them sit on little yellow felt eggs on their chairs to teach them to stay in their seats. If they sit on their eggs and "warm" them really well then the big blue egg hatches at the end of class and they get little treats (very clever idea). Well, one of the kids got the great idea to take off his sweater, put his egg under his chair, and cover his egg with his sweater so it would "warm" without him having to sit on it. His Sunbeam teacher later told us that the child with the great idea was E. Typical. Always finding loop holes in the system.

We've been doing "school time" with E a little big everyday while Max is taking a nap. I found a workbook that has some great activities for him to work on. He has so much fun doing it, that he asks several times a day to have "school time."

Deals For This Week

Well, if any of you went out last week and got the great diaper deal that was going on, you might have a lot of register rewards that will be expiring within the next week. So this is how I spent mine...
5 bottles of Listerine
2 2 packs of Reach toothbrushes
3 bottles of hand sanitizer
5 tubes of Colgate
8 Dove deodorants
2 Lysol wipes
1 can of Lysol spray
My total should have been $59.60
I paid $2.24
PLUS....I walked out with $22 of register rewards!

Over at Wal Mart this is what I ended up with
5 bars of Johnsons buddies soap
1 pack of Wrigleys gum
2 boxes of Wheat thins
My total should have been 11.27
I paid 3.06

So for everything in the picture I paid $5.30 with an extra $22 to spend at Walgreens. Isn't couponing great?!

Diabetic Cereal Anyone?

Okay, this coupon thing might be getting a little out of hand. I went to Walgreens tonight and ended up with 4 boxes of Diabetic cereal that I got for free (with 2 $10 coupons) and then an additional $7 register rewards. That's right, I got paid to take 4 boxes of diabetic cereal out of Walgreens tonight. I can also submit my receipts to Caregivers Marketplace and receive an additional $2.50. I think I'm going to donate the cereal to our local food bank or to a nursing home.

I also saved $65 in groceries tonight at Kroger's. They have a great buy 10 get $5 back deal going on right now.

Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic have a 30% off your total purcahse (you can use it multiple times) this weekend so go print it out.

Today was boot camp graduation. I made it through 4 weeks of brutally early workouts. I've gone through a lot the past 4 weeks...a baby that doesn't sleep, dealing with lack of sleep, sugar detox, nursing a baby, starting to wean, keeping up with E (that along is a job in itself). Well, all the hard work paid off! I won biggest loser at bootcamp!!! Hooray! I'm going to enjoy the week off and then it's right back at it on March 23rd. What a busy day!

I've Got a New Hobby....

As most of you know, I like being frugal. I'm not a big fan of paying full price, I love to find a good deal, and I love saving money. Well, I have now entered into the world of "couponing" and we have reached a whole new level of frugality. Couponing is so much fun! It's almost like a game. You hunt for the best price, gather coupons, find ways to combine them, look for rebates, and see if you can get cash back. There are even ways to MAKE money on purchases! I did that several times just this week!
So many of you know the smoking hot deal going on diapers at Walgreens. I'll give you the run down...
Huggies diapers are on sale for $10/pack
Huggies wipes (large packs) are on sale for $6
If you buy $25 dollars worth of diapers then you receive $10 back in register rewards. So if you buy 2 packs of diapers and a pack of wipes = $26, it's like you get it for $16. Well the deal gets even sweeter...there are $5 and $3 coupons for huggies that you can print. So if you use 3 $5 coupons you get all of it for $1!!!!! Now there are many ways you can jocky the coupons around and there have been limited quantities of certain things, but you just can't pass up the deal. PLUS....there is Caregiver's Marketplace that gives you $0.75 for each pack of diapers! So here's how it went...
-9 packs of diapers
-4 large packs of wipes
-Before coupons it would have cost me $114
-I spent $75 out of pocket
-I got $40 back in register rewards
-I will get $6.75 back from Caregiver's Marketplace
So all in all, it's like I got my $114 worth of diapers for $28.25!!!! WOW!!!

My Target/Walgreens run tonight

My total should have been $142.47. I spent $44.56 out of pocket on all of this, but I got $20 in register rewards and $3 back from Caregiver's Marketplace so basically $24.56 for all of this...
4 packs of Huggies
2 large packs of wipes
4 tubes of toothpaste
1 can of Enfamil (YES ENFAMIL!!!)
5 packs of Goldfish crackers
3 6 packs of Mott's applesauce
3 bottles of Garnier Shampoo
1 bottle of Soft Scrub
3 packs of Target brand STEAK
A savings of $117.91! Can't get any better than that! I'm really new at all this so I'm trying to get it all figured out, but it seems to be working pretty well so far. So if you hear of any good deals, pass them my way! This is how Max feels about my new hobby, he really loves a good deal too!

What a Cute Boy!

Maybe it's just because I'm his mother, but Max is the cutest baby I have ever seen! His little blue eyes and his sweet little dimples just make me melt. He had a lot of hair when he was born, but it all fell out last month. Now I'm beginning to see some fresh little sprouts of hair on his little head and his hair line is a little more pronounced. Max is 5 months now and growing like a weed. He's rolling a little bit, but he's mostly content to just to turn from side to side. He's also starting to sit, but still quite wobbly. He loves to watch Ethan be crazy and it just cracks him up. I just love it when he laughs! Seriously, what a cute boy!

A Little Help...

That's what I desperately needed yesterday. All the lack of sleep got the best of me yesterday and I was a wreck! It's amazing that even amidst my minor crisis, the spirit touches others to spring into action. I just want to thank my friends and family for coming to the rescue yesterday and today. I really really needed it! I have some of the greatest friends. Seriously, above and beyond! I especially have to thank my hubby for making my day and taking a huge burden off my plate. Thanks!

Marshmallow Cream

Doesn't that sound like a lovely title? No, I wasn't cooking something today...something else happened. Well, tonight was a normal Wednesday night. Ry was gone to Young Men's, I was bathing Max in the baby tub in the kitchen, and E was up to no good. Now let me rewind a week or two ago and relate some of E's antics as of late. Well, right now he's really into getting things with out asking...i.e. food, candy, luggage keys, or anything interesting to him.

One morning at 6:00am, I came out to the kitchen to find E enjoying an entire 4 pack of chocolate pudding. He stood up on my mixer and grabbed it and a spoon and had at it. Luckily I got to him before he could open and eat the 4th one. What a way to start your day? A sugar buzzed 3 year old!

Another morning, I came out and found him surrounded by many Christmas colored Hershey kiss foils all over the floor and the Hershey kisses were hidden under his pillow. When he saw me come out, he jumped onto his pillow and told me, "there's nothing to see here." Needless to say, I am not one of those lucky moms that can just teach their child to turn on the TV and get some breakfast while they go back to bed.

A couple days ago he found a pair of luggage keys in a basket somewhere and proceeded to stick one of the luggage keys in the electrical socket. Yes, he got shocked. Yes, I had to pull the key out with a pot holder so I wouldn't get shocked.

Now fast forward to tonight. I'm bathing Max so I guess E thinks it's a great time to get something without asking since I'm "occupied" at the moment. Well, out of the pantry I hear a thud and a crunch. The jar of marshmallow cream got knocked off the shelf onto the tile floor while E was trying to sneak the bag of mini marshmallows. I immediately sent E to his room. Obviously I couldn't clean up the mess right away since I had Max in the tub and while I was finishing up with Max, I was just picturing the goo oozing slowly out of the jar and all over my floor. Well, I got Max all done and dressed and stuck him in his seat and I went to attack the mess on my floor. How in the heck do you clean up a broken jar of marshmallow cream? A broom would be unusable after that, my mop is used on wood floors so any glass in there would scratch my floor, and rags can't be rinsed in the sink or else glass would get in the disposal. Luckily my parents got me one of those cool squigy/broom things that you can use on wet or dry surfaces. I first tried to get the major chunk into the trash, but the glass sharded goo sliced my finger. Bad idea. I just had to squigy it all into my dust pan and then plop it in the trash. I probably used a whole roll of paper towels after that too. Now my special broom and dust pan are soaking in a bucket to get all the goo off and then I have to strain all the water and put the rest of the glass shards in the trash. A typical night, right?

New Week

It's been a week and a half since I last blogged. Where have I been? Who knows. Staying busy of course. Max is doing much better and hasn't really had too much of a cough since things cleared up. I'm counting my blessings. He's also been waking up only 2-3 times a night which is a HUGE improvement. He's only done done it 3 nights so I'm not getting my hopes up too much, but we have to count every victory that we can.

E started basketball class last Saturday and he's been really enjoying that. I have pictures that I need to upload of him and my dad getting ready to go. My dad took him to his very first class since Ry was gone to a meeting that morning. E's learning how to dribble, pass, and shoot which is quite a job for a little 3 year old, but he loves it.

As for me, even though I'm not sleeping I've decided to haul myself back to boot camp. I'm up at 4:45 anyway so I might as well be working out, right? We'll see if this is such a good idea in 4 weeks. I start tomorrow so wish me luck. I hope when we have our "arms days" that I be able to hold Max. There were days when I did boot camp before that it hurt just to shampoo my hair...what have I gotten myself into?

1 Hour

That is the amount of sleep I got last night. I haven't slept well in months. I am up constantly with the baby. I decided to calculate the amount of sleep that I have gotten since Max was born and how much sleep I should have gotten. Basically up to today, if I got the recommended 8 hours of sleep a day I should have slept 1088 hours. On average I get about 2-4 hours of interrupted sleep a night so when you calculate it all out I've only had 408 hours of sleep since he was born (a little over 4 months). That means I have missed out on 680 hours of sleep. If I wanted to catch up it would take me 28 days of consecutive sleep to even come close! I am seriously a babbling, forgetful zombie around here. How are moms suppose to function like this? Really, I want to know.

RSV Update

This weekend was full of breathing treatments, suctioning, and being up in the night but we made with through without having to go to the hospital. Max had a follow up visit with the pedi yesterday and things are alright, so far. His breathing is in the 70s which isn't good but his O2 sats are fine and he doesn't seem like his breathing isn't too labored. She told me to just continue to do what I'm doing and that we're probably in the thick of it right now through Friday. I think things will start settling down by Monday (I hope). He's contagious for 7-10 days and we're on Day 6 right now so a little bit longer. She told me he'll have a congested cough for about a month just because it will take awhile to get it all out. She also said it is very important that once he is well that he DOES NOT get the flu. I guess the flu is going around like crazy and if ends up with the flu after RSV, it's not good at all. It's important to keep him in until flu season is over. I just about lost it at that point. I feel like I've been cooped up forever and it feels like it will never end. It's so hard for E to be cooped up too and that just leads to never ending battles. Thankfully my mother-in-law took E for me all day yesterday to get him out and about. He had so much fun and he really really needed that. So overall, things are good for now. No hospital at the moment, just keep on doing what I'm doing.