Just Because

The week before Christmas my husband came home with this surprise for me - just because he loves me:



Wow, I'm still amazed daily that I have won the heart of this godly, loving, caring, kind, very handsome, very funny, amazing man! I love him more than I ever thought I could love anyone. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of marriage and my husband!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2008

Well, I'm a little behind but here are some pictures from Thanksgiving this year. We hosted my side of the family this year. It was wonderful! I really enjoyed cooking with my mom and having everyone here. Not to mention, it was nice not to do so much traveling! We had everyone here on Thanksgiving and then we traveled the next day to Bowling Green to celebrate with Wes's family. It was a wonderful holiday full of thankfulness for all the Lord has provided to His children.

Noah's Crawling!

Noah started crawling last week, on October 30th to be exact. He was 8 months old and 10 days. He started out with just a few crawls at a time but has gotten much better in only a week's time. Now he easily crawls the length of a room especially if he sees something he wants! He's also started following us around. Today, he followed me from the living room into our bedroom. He's very proud of himself and we are proud of him too! Our little boy is getting so big! Watch his new trick below.

Lil' Punkin Pie

For Noah's first Halloween, we dressed him up as a pumpkin. I found his costume for $6 at Kroger. What I loved about it was that it was called "Lil' Punkin Pie." That is what I've called Noah since he was born - my little Punkin Pie. I thought the costume was appropriate. We dressed him up and let him help us hand out candy to our neighbors. Well, he didn't exactly help us but he had fun watching all of the people pass by. Here are some pictures we took of our little Punkin with the pumpkins.

Walgreens Deal

Well, I've been a little behind in posting but I have to share with you the great deal I recently received at Walgreens. About 3 weeks ago, my wonderful brother reminded me about a special Walgreens coupon ($5 off of a $20 purchase.) At first I didn't think that I could use it until I looked at the sales flyer and some coupons that I had. I headed to the store and this is what I bought:



Purchased:

2 boxes Puffs tissues - $1.78
4oz box Reese's Pieces - $1.00
Oral B toothbrush - $4.49
Gillette Fusion Razor - $8.99
2 Gillette Men's shampoos - $10.00
3 32oz Gatorades - $3.00

Used:

$4/1 Gillette Fusion Razor
$.75/1 Oral B toothbrush
(2) $2/1 Gillette Men's Shampoo
(2) $.25/1 box of Puffs tissues

Total after coupons - $20.01

Once you apply the $5 off $20 purchase, that brings my pre-tax total to $15.01. I'm still not sure how I managed to get my total before the special coupon so close to $20 even! I was amazed.
But, I'm not finished. Some of these items produced rebates or Register Rewards (RR). RR can be used like cash on your next purchase. I earned a $5.00 rebate on the Gillette Shampoo, $4.00 in RR on the Fusion Razor, and $4.50 in RR on the Oral B toothbrush. That is a total of $13.50 in money/rewards back.

So....

My grand total for the purchase above was......$1.51!!!!

I'm so thrilled! This is probably the best I've done in the coupon world so far. The best part is not only did I save us money, but I was able to use the RR to buy supplies for the medical mission trip our church recently took to Cordova, Peru. God is so gracious!

Freedom!

Noah experienced a new freedom today - standing up in the crib! I heard him waking up from his nap and was about to fix a bottle. Then I noticed that he was pretty quiet. I thought that maybe he had fallen back to sleep which he sometimes does. When I looked at the monitor, I was quite shocked. There was my baby boy standing up in his crib holding on to the rails!! He has never done that before. Somehow he pulled himself to a sitting position and then pulled himself up. I really wish I could have seen him do it! I took some video and pictures to capture this historic moment. Here are some of the ones I took. You can tell that he is really checking out his room!







"Look at me - I'm a big boy!"

Hats off to cuteness!

Here are some more photos of our Noah. I love this cap!! I got it at our church's recent consignment sale, Angel's Attic. There is a matching corduroy jacket that he can wear with it this fall as well. As the folks at Mastercard say:

Camera used to take these pictures - $200
Driver's cap (and matching jacket not shown) - $7
Photos of my boy looking so handsome in his cap - PRICELESS!!

Bath Time!

Wes took these pictures last night during Noah's bath. Bath time is a nightly bedtime ritual and Noah loves it. He is now big enough to sit up in the tub by himself and even enjoys playing with his rubber ducky, or at least chewing on it! He is so adorable!!

Labor Day Weekend

For our long holiday weekend, we traveled to Paducah to see my parents. We had not been there since May so it was good to visit. We had a wonderful time of course and ate lots of great food! Kyle and his family came on Saturday to visit as well. It was so wonderful to have everyone together, especially the grandkids. Here is a slide show of our time together. Most of the pictures are of Noah and Ava girl (as Wes and I affectionately call her sometimes). I think they love each other very much! We sure do love them and Mr. Jacob!

1930's Marital Test

88 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

I copied this from Ann Kelly's blog. There is also a test for husbands. I'm pleased with my results. My favorite question/trait was "Puts her cold feet on husband at night to warm them". I do this all the time! I think I must have the coldest feet of any person alive (at least Wes probably thinks so.) I'm not sure if that is a trait of a 1930's wife or not but I guess it didn't hurt my score! Take the test and let me know how you did.

The Precious Gift of Life

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." Psalm 127:3-5a

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20

(ht The Place Beneath)

Noah's 6 month checkup

Yesterday I took Noah for his 6 month checkup. Here are his stats:

21 lbs, 6.6 oz
29 3/4 inches long
47.5 head circumference.

That puts Noah off the charts for height and head circumference and at 94% for weight (down 1% from his 4 month check up). Basically, Dr. Childers said he's the size of a 1 year old! Of course I knew that already because he has been wearing 12 mth clothes. But he said that he is a healthy growing boy who is just going to be tall (a future athlete!) He does have a big head. Dr. Childers said that there is nothing wrong with that but he may have trouble getting hats to fit his head! We already have that problem. He was impressed with how well Noah was sitting up. He said that we could move to the stage 2 foods and a sippy cup. That definitely makes me excited! I like it when we can try new things. Oh and the best news to us is that Dr. Childers said his eyes should stay blue! We are very happy because we love his big blue eyes! That along with his big, sweet, dimpled smile makes my heart melt!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Tonight, Wes, Noah and I went to a Lexington Legends baseball game with our church's youth group. Wes has started teaching the high school boys' Bible Fellowship Group (BFG) on Sunday mornings so we were invited. It was a fun night of free pizza and a free game. This was Noah's first baseball game with many more hopefully to come! All in all, he did very well.

6 months old

Noah is 6 months old today! Wow, where has the time gone? It really does seem like a blur to me. I was putting away some of his old clothes today and reminiscing over how small he used to be (well, small for him anyway.) He is such a big boy now. Look how long he is! He changes everyday and is learning new tricks all the time. He now has his two bottom teeth. He is so sweet!

Happy 4th Birthday, Jacob!

Today is my nephew Jacob's 4th birthday. Our family celebrated with him this past Saturday. Here is a picture of him getting ready to blow out his Thomas the Train birthday cake. I also found a picture from his 2nd birthday bash which was also a train theme. I believe that this was actually the beginning of his fascination with trains. Jacob's 2nd birthday was also the day that he met his Uncle Wes for the first time. Well, actually he wasn't "Uncle Wes" yet but maybe that is what he wished for when he blew out the candles!

A Great Visit with Great Friends

This weekend we went to Bowling Green and Springfield, TN to visit family. While we were in BG, Noah and I were able to visit our friends, the Humbles. They are such a great family and very good friends. Brooke and Jason have 3 of the most beautiful kids - Sammy (5), Hannah (3) and Bella Claire (almost 1). Here are some pictures from our visit. Bella was taking a nap so I didn't get any of her. We sure do miss them! By the way, it looks like Noah likes the older girls, like his Daddy! ;)

A McYummy Deal

From now through September 1st, McDonald's has a tasty deal at their website here. Our McDonalds here is currently offering any size drink for a $1. Wes and I ate there last night for a total of $2.12! A couple of tips - you can use multiple email addresses to print extra coupons but make sure to use a color printer. Enjoy!

Then and Now

The first little boy to melt my heart - my nephew Jacob.


Here is the little boy that melts my heart everyday - my precious Noah.

Our Growing Boy

Noah is almost 6 months old. It's so hard for me to believe! Our little boy is growing up. He is now a pro at solid foods. He's had cereal for almost 2 months now and baby food for about one month. He's had green peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, applesauce, pears and peaches. He especially loves squash and carrots but honestly will eat anything. I think he just likes food. We started giving him oatmeal which he loves as well.

Here are some pictures from the first week that we gave him cereal. I love the expressions on his face! Thankfully, it didn't take him long to figure out what to do with the spoon and to decide that he liked this new taste.

Saturday Savings

Here are my Saturday dynomite deals. Rite Aid has a great rebate program where they offer you partial to full rebates on selected items. This past week was my first time to pay attention to the Rite Aid ad. I'm so glad I did! Here are my rebate items:

Gillette Fusion Razor 9.00
Gillette Men Shampoo 4.49
Revlon Nail Polish 2.99
Renu Multiplus Solution (2 pack) 9.99

Total 26.47

Less coupons - 5.00
Less rebates - 22.47

Total overage + 1.00

That's right - I got $26.47 worth of products free plus I actually made money off of this deal because I had some coupons! It's so nice to shop and actually make money. I never knew this world existed!

My other deal for the day was at Walgreens. They offer a program called "Register Rewards." This is similar to CVS's Extra Care Bucks program. For select items, they will give you a certain $ amount of rewards to be used toward your next purchase. It is essentially free money to use at Walgreens. Yesterday, I had my eye on the 4/$10 on Kellog's cereal. I had a coupon for $1 off a purchase of 2 boxes of Special K. This brought the deal to 4/$9. Walgreens offered register rewards of $5 for the purchase. This brought the final total to 4/$4. That's $1 per box! Even Walmart can't beat that. There was a similar deal for the Nutri-Grain bars but they were sold out. That is one lesson I learned last week. If you see a good deal in Sunday's ad, get it that day or the next. Apparently, I'm not the only one who's caught on to these great deals! All in all, it was a very satisfying shopping day.

A Day of Great Deals

Recently, I've been on the quest to cut some of our family spending by using coupons. I was actually introduced to this new world of couponing by a somewhat unlikely source, my big brother Kyle. He told me about this website which is packed full of coupons and great deals. There is also the world of CVS shopping which I will get into in another post. However, on the Money Saving Mom website I found out about a great freebie at TGI Fridays. This isn't actually one of my favorite restaurants. But, if it's eating free food at a restaurant, I'm inclined to check it out (I love eating out!) So, Wes and I went to TGI Fridays and used our 2 free appetizer coupons. They let us use two because we were paying separately. On top of that, each coupon was good for an appetizer valued at $8. It just so happened that we went during happy hour where select appetizers were $4 each. Our waitress actually let us order 2 appetizers per coupon. Therefore, we got to order 4 appetizers for free! Now, I'm not sure that all of the waiters/waitresses would let us do that but God showed us favor! If that weren't enough, we got a "surprise" appetizer just for being members of their Stripes club. We were stuffed when we left and it was all free (not including my drink and the tip.) All in all, we ate the entire meal for $6! As a side note, I've discovered that many restaurants offer a free meal or coupon for signing up on their email list. Usually, the offer must be redeemed within 1-2 weeks so it's good to space them out if possible.

After dinner, we went to Ulta so that I could take advantage of more savings on my makeup. Ulta is running a special this month on my foundation, buy one get one free. The regular price is $24.50 so of course I jumped all over that. When I went to check out at the counter, the clerk gave me $5 off for signing up for 2 free magazine issues. The total for the two foundation compacts was $19.50 or $9.75 per compact. What a steal!! I was so excited. I think I've found a new passion - shopping for deals!

More Mom Funnies

What nobody told me about sleep deprivation..... (statements from new moms, from the May 2008 issue of babytalk)

"I collapse into bed at night thinking that I could sleep through a tornado only to spring up the moment I hear a little sneeze come for the bassinet."

"When my daughter was a couple weeks old, I looked down at her and for the life of me could not remember her name."

"Nobody told me that I'd look at my husband sleeping so peacefully next to our wailing infant daughter -up for the fifth time that night- and be seized with such an urge to smack him silly!"

Mom Funnies

From the May 2008 issue of babytalk magazine:

Sure, Mother's Day presents are great, but why stop at just one day? There are plenty of other "special occasions" in your baby's first year when we think you rate a gift or two.


OCCASION: You produce your tenth quart of breast milk.
PRESENT: A suede jacket (hey, if you're gonna be milked like a dairy cow, you might as well get the snazzy coat.)

OCCASION: You go out for a rare hour of "me" time and accidentally spend it napping on a crosstown bus.
PRESENT: A designer bag (to replace the one stolen during your nap.)

OCCASION: While changing a hazmat-grade diaper on a public park bench, you run out of baby wipes-then realize you have no diapers, either.
PRESENT: Therapy

Preaching the Gospel to Myself

As most people know who read my blog, I have a new career - motherhood. I'm no longer working as a full time accountant but instead stay at home to care for our newborn son, Noah. Motherhood is a blessing - Noah is a blessing. But motherhood is also a calling. The Lord has called me to be a wife and mother (praise Him!) and thus it is his desire and plan to sanctify me and glorify his name through these roles. As with any job, motherhood has its challenges. Everyday is pretty ordinary with a newborn. I feed him, change his diapers, hold him and play with him, try to get him to sleep, and of course try to figure out how to console and satisfy him when he cries. When I was pregnant, I didn't think that these daily tasks would be that difficult. Of course, everything is harder when you've only slept approximately 4 or 5 hours/night for the past 7 weeks and your hormones are still getting back to normal. I sometimes find myself crying when he cries, wondering how I'm going to make it through another day without collapsing from exhaustion. But the Lord is good. He gets me through everyday with the strength (physical and emotional) and patience I need to care for Noah and still be the wife I desire to be for Wes.

Today, I read this verse in Ephesians: "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." I think that I'm going to chew on that verse for a while and pray through it's application in my life, both as a wife and mother. Nothing is more important than the Gospel. Therefore, we must think of it often. In fact, we need to preach it to ourselves. That is what I'm trying to do everyday. We will never outgrow our need for it. I need the Gospel to get up each day and care for Noah. I need the Gospel to help me submit to my husband. I need the Gospel to remind me of the bigger picture when I'm overwhelmed with the little things.

I watched this John Piper video today - The Gospel in 6 Minutes. I think that I could watch it over and over. As he states at the end of the video "Only one strength will be there when you need it - the strength that God gives according to the Gospel." This is the strength that I need, that we all need.

The Top 4 Things That You Should Never Say To A Pregnant Woman

I'm down to 8 days until my due date. It's hard to believe in some ways - I've been pregnant for 9 months! Reflecting on my pregnancy, I've thought about some of the not-so-tactful comments I've gotten from complete strangers as well as people I know. Of course, I assume that these people meant well but just didn't express their good intentions in the right way. After doing some reading on the internet, it turns out that I'm not the only pregnant woman who has received these comments and has been bothered by them. I took some excerpts from a couple of different articles to compile a list of the top 4 things that you should never say to a pregnant woman. Believe me, we really don't want to hear them!


4. "You must be having a boy/girl because your butt/nose/feet are so HUGE!" Literally dozens of old wives' tales exist that are touted to predict the gender of a baby based on how wide a pregnant woman's nose or butt have gotten, if she's carrying the baby high or low or if her belly looks like a basketball or a watermelon. Please resist the urge to predict a baby's gender using medically and scientifically unsubstantiated old wives' tales, unless it's something like, "you're having a boy because of how drop dead gorgeous you look!" She may not believe it, but she'll appreciate the effort.

3."How are you feeling?" This question, while typically sincere and coming from a genuine place of concern, can wear on even the most positive and upbeat pregnant women, particularly if it's the tenth time that day. She knows she should say, "I'm feeling great, never better," but you know she really wants to say, "my feet hurt, my maternity clothes don't even fit anymore, I'm tired and have trouble bending over to tie my shoes. How are you feeling?" Again, the key to interacting with most pregnant women is emphasizing that she's still normal, even though she weighs more than she even thought possible, is eternally uncomfortable and is hormonal to boot. Don't dwell on her "condition," instead, give her the opportunity to open up to you if she needs to.

2. "You haven't had that baby YET?!" A pregnant mom lives with her pregnancy EVERY day. She doesn't need to be reminded that she's 5000 days past her due date, and that she looks like she's going to pop. She knows this. Her back hurts, she wakes up 4 times a night to pee, she has trouble walking and her feet have gone up two shoe sizes. Instead, offer her a seat and a cookie — and a foot rub would be nice too.

1. "Are you having twins?" If someone is having twins, they will tell you. I promise they will tell you.

Only Six More Weeks....

and our precious Noah should be here! I am now 34 weeks pregnant. I am so excited that it is getting closer :) Just this past Sunday, talking to some friends at church, I realized that we are having a baby next month! Wow, it does seem that the time has flown by. Many people say that the last few weeks are the hardest because of the discomfort and anticipation. Therefore, they seem to drag on forever. But looking ahead, it seems like there is not much time left. There are still things to be done before Noah arrives. We have started on the nursery but still have more to do. We just had our first shower this weekend with 3 more to follow. I'm trying to wind up things at work, making sure that I've made lists of everything I do and when and how I do them so that it's a little easier on the next person who does my job. January is going to be a very busy month!

Overall, my pregnancy has gone well. God has been very gracious to me. My only struggle has been my diagnosis with gestational diabetes. I was very shocked to find out that I had this. As a result, I've been following a fairly strict diet for the last 4 weeks and testing my blood sugar after meals. At first, it was very overwhelming and difficult. I was stressed a lot and wondered how I was going to get through it. But I'm very blessed to have a supportive and caring husband who let me cry on his shoulder many times. He has helped tremendously by consoling me and even writing out meal plans for me so that I wouldn't have to eat the same, boring things. I will be honest - this isn't fun at all! However, Noah is worth every bit of it. The way I see it, this is the first of many sacrifices that I will make for my son. Wes reminded me of the importance of sacrifice in an encouraging email he wrote me on one of my more difficult days. He said that this sacrifice for Noah is causing me to love him more and is bringing out the love I already have for him. After dealing with this for the past month, I see how true that statement is.

Our pastor has often emphasized the importance of looking at our circumstances in light of the Gospel. Our ultimate example of sacrifice is displayed in the cross. There is no greater act of love. While this sacrifice that I am making for my son in no way compares to Christ bearing the wrath for our sins on the cross, it has caused me to lay aside my own desires for the good of someone I love. This is something that only I can do for Noah to help him be a healthy little boy. This is a way for me to think less of myself and to serve my son. God, in his sovereign wisdom, has allowed me to have gestational diabetes but has given me the grace and strength I need to handle it every day. I can see how he is working this out, not only for Noah's health, but for my good as his child. He is so loving and faithful to his children!