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Monday, July 28, 2008

Double Trouble

Look at these 2! Brody already loves his new cousin Cole. In the hospital, Brody just stared at him through the nursery glass. He couldn't take his eyes off of him. Then we went and visited yesterday and we were able to snap a QUICK picture of them checking each other out. Brody is quite the mover these days and was not a fan of laying still next to Cole. In college, people called Leigh Ann and I double trouble. I can already see it for these 2 as well! We're going to have our hands full!!

We had a sweet photo session with Cole as well..I'll post pics of those on my photo blog when I get them all done.


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Brody was SO interested in what was going on with Cole. He was reaching at the glass and never took his eyes off of him. It was precious!

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I love that the blanket says Future Aggie right between them. How cute! It should be some sort of ad for something Aggie related for sure! Hey Loupot's, need some spokesmodels?

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Penny Pinching and Time Saving

I've never been the best when it comes to finding deals, comparison shopping, checking prices, coupon clipping, etc. I was always the type to go in the store, wander the aisles for days, and get whatever I wanted. When we had 2 incomes, we could afford to do that. We could buy all the snacks and fun stuff we wanted.

Well, now that I am a stay at home mom, we are on a TOTALLY DIFFERENT BUDGET! We have a set amount we can spend on groceries and dining out. And even up until recently, I was never that great about really figuring out how to stick to the budget. If we would go over, we'd try to make up for it in another area of our budget. (entertainment, etc) Well, I've been totally convicted about how it is part of my job as a wife and mom to be a good steward of the money that my husband works hard to provide for us. So I began researching different methods of saving money at the grocery store. And WOW there are a ton of resources out there!

My college friend Kristin recently had a post regarding this same issue and listed some great blogs that help out a lot. Here are a couple that I check daily. They tell you all the deals that the stores are having so you dont have to go searching.

Money Saving Mom - she's my favorite. She's a Christian so her application of using coupons and saving money is very Biblically based. She has a list of all the printable coupon sites and detailed explanations of how to use the CVS system (which I am still clueless about)
Freebies 4 Mom - she's great about listing when places are having deals, giveaways, etc.

I got a lot of GREAT information from Kyle McVay's blog. She has an entire word doc typed up with details on how to save money at the grocery store, preparing a menu, etc. She provides a printable grocery list that I LOVE! It has everything categorized and I just went in and made minor adjustments to fit our grocery needs. I added a price column next to each column of groceries so I could write the price as I bought each thing. I used it today and seriously I was in and out of the g-store in no time! Well, actually it took me a while bc I had my calculator out and was keeping a running total of what I was spending. It was great!

So, anyways..I'm learning. Learning how to be a better steward of the income that the Lord has blessed us with. Learning how to keep my home running smoothly. And I'm loving it already!

On another note, I wanted to remind all the moms out there who are blog readers about Google Reader. I was totally clueless about this until a few weeks ago. Stop what you are doing and do this now. Go to google.com. In the "More" dropdown, go to Reader. You'll have to sign up for it (it's free) and if you have a gmail account you just use the same log in info. Then, you go in and put in the web address of all the blogs you read on a normal basis. So, when you get on the computer to do some blog surfing, go to your google reader and it will list all the blogs that have updated since you last read them! You will save HOURS! I'm telling you! You won't waste time going to blogs to see if they are updated. It's wonderful! I use iGoogle as my homepage, so when I get online, google reader is on my homepage, along with my email, the weather, etc. And that also saves me tons of time. But just starting with the reader is a good start. Just wanted to share that tidbit of info with my fellow moms out there who don't have all day to surf!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Evil Ants!

I've always hated ants. I know God had a purpose for putting them on Earth..but I've never found it. They make huge ugly mounds in your yard. They are destructive. And they HURT! Well, now my disdain for them has grown a million times over.

At 4am on Monday morning, I am awakened to the sound of Brody screaming. I ran to his room and scooped him out of bed bc I could tell it was a cry of pain. He stopped crying and I think "Ok, you screamed like that to get my attention!?" Silly boy! But, it was almost time for him to eat anyways so I went ahead and nursed him. As he was eating, I noticed a small bug or fly crawling on his face. The light was off in the room but I had the hallway bathroom light on so it was just enough that I could see him. I flicked the bug off, not thinking anything of it. A couple minutes later, I saw it again and thought wow, what a pesky little thing!

As I go to lay Brody back in his crib, I see them. Tons of them! Ants crawling all in his crib! I FREAKED! I hadn't seen them before bc my eyes hadn't adjusted to the light. But they were everywhere. Apparently, he had spit up in his sleep and they could smell it and came for it! Matt came running in, we stripped his bed of sheets and everything and attacked the ants with kitchen disinfectant bc I didn't want to put poisonous bug spray in his room. In the meantime, the sweet boy had fallen back asleep on our bed so I didn't really look over his body for bites. I saw a couple but thought, "whew, they didn't get him that bad." He slept with us the rest of the night and I just kept cuddling him and saying I'm so sorry.

The next morning I checked him over and oh my gosh! I was soo upset. He was ATTACKED! He has a patch of 5 bites behind his ear, another patch on his pinky, and then others scattered around his body. These aren't any ant bites..these are FIRE ANT bites! Fortunately he's not allergic bc they haven't swelled up or made him sick. He has been a little irritable bc of the pain and itching, but other than that he's ok. It upset me more than him.

We left town Monday morning to go see baby Cole so we didn't have to worry about him sleeping in his room then. Tuesday night when we got back, we still hadn't sprayed anything so he slept in the pack n play in our room. Today Matt was going to go get some safe spray that we could put in his room and then something we could spray outside. However, a friend of Allen and Dena's who owns a pest control business offered to come over and take care of the problem for free! How amazing is that! He put a very mild spray along Brody's baseboard and then destroyed the ones outside. He said because its so dry right now, they are burrowed underground and are looking for water. Thats why they came in our house.

So needless to say, Brody will probably have a stigma about ants his whole life. Or at least I will from now on!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sooo Excited!

We get a nephew tomorrow (Monday)!! We can't wait! Matt's brother and his wife/my best friend are having their baby boy tomorrow. We're heading to Houston early in the morning so we don't miss a thing. I am so excited not only to get a nephew and to get to be an aunt, but also because I'm so excited to get to share this time with Leigh Ann. It's so fun that we will both finally have babies and so close together. They will be 6 months apart...6 months and 2 days to be exact. So soo close. I can't wait to watch our sweet boys grow up together, play, fight, and be best buds (we won't give them a choice). Brody is going to love baby Cole sooo much. I hope they let him see him tomorrow.

Please be praying for Leigh Ann as she goes into the hospital at 5am to start her IVs and get things started. We'll be praying for her as she is laboring and especially delivery. Delivery is never "easy" but we'll be praying for safe with no complications and everything will go smoothly. Pray for baby Cole that he is perfectly healthy and ready to take on the world.

We'll have pictures...but I won't be posting any until the mom and dad get to post them on their own blog. They should get to be the first ones to show off their new angel to the world! I feel like I'm having another baby or something..this is too exciting!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Time has FLOWN by!

Our little Brody. We can't believe how fast you have reached 6 months old! It seems like yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital. You were so tiny in that big ole' carseat. Now I can barely lift the thing when you're in it! You bring us so much joy. Mommy loves watching you play with your daddy...you two are hilarious together! You don't respond to anyone like you do to him..its so precious and the way it should be! You light up when he walks in the room and says your name. He is teaching you little "boy" tricks like sticking your tongue out and blowing. And you are so good at it! You're trying to sit up on your own and you are getting VERY close. We're so proud of you for trying to do so many new things on your own. We're having to keep a close eye on you now since you're always rolling and scooting. Before we know it, you'll be crawling around the whole house. You've definitely showed signs of trying already! You started eating cereal this week and it was quite funny! At first, when you wanted another bite you would stick your tongue out instead of opening your mouth. You wanted to eat it but couldn't figure out how to get that tongue out of the way. Mommy and Daddy couldn't help but laugh.

Brody Boy, you are so loved! We can't imagine our lives without you. Here are some of our favorite photos of your first 6 months!

Monday, July 7, 2008

First Trip to the Zoo

We went to San Antonio this weekend and Brody got to go on his first trip to the zoo. He couldn't really see much because the walls and fences were high so he just played with toys and slept most of the time. However, he LOVED the aquarium. He could see all the bright fish and was smiling and reaching towards them. It was so cute. He could see other animals, but these were definitely his favorites. Here are a few photos of some pretty animals we saw during the day. It was STINKIN hot so a lot of the cool ones were hiding in the shade. But it was still a fun family day!


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