Sick and Tired

There is a sick bug going around the house. Jacob and I have fevers (100.9 and 100.6 degrees, respectively), and Lily's diaper/eating have been not so normal. Jacob has had a dry cough for maybe a month (his pediatrician group can't find anything wrong with him or his lungs after two visits), and his diaper is ALWAYS DIRTY as if he were a newborn and all I fed him was guacamole.



(Moments before we both passed out. Doesn't he look like a doll?)

For me, it's the kind of sick where I have the chills ("Are you sure we can't put more covers on the bed? My legs are freezing!" Ryan makes that crazy face...the same one he made when I was pregnant and always hot to the opposite extreme), and my skin is oh-so-sensitive to the touch. Breatfeeding (esp. in the middle of the night...repeatedly) has never hurt so much, b/c the combination of someone touching my cold, bare skin and the pressure of my milk letting down makes me shiver and grimace and hold my breath. My head is throbbing, my eyelids weigh a ton, and being up all night with two babies who are not feeling well does not help one recouperate.

Mom to the rescue!

"Owa," as Lily calls her, will be here shortly. I am counting down the minutes. What will I do once she arrives? "Hi, mom. Here are the kids and the diapers. I'll be in my room under my flannel sheets wearing flannel pajamas SLEEPING. Do not disturb unless Jacob needs to eat or someone breaks a body part. Thank you."

I'm sorry, my sweet little troupers, that Mama has been sitting on the couch watching infomercials (gotta have that Shark Steam Mop!) and not playing with you for the last two days. Thanks for being such wonderful sports. Jacob, thanks for being content just being held all day - you're such a little chubby lump of cuddles and kisses. Lily, thanks for bringing me book after book to look at with you, and never complaining that I'm not getting up to chase you around...and around and around...the house. I promise I'll make it up to you both when I feel better.

And tomorrow night, regardless of how I feel, I will be ALL YOURS when you play dress-up and visit the neighbors, all of whom think you're both the greatest kids ever (I have to agree), and would adopt you as their extended grandchildren, if they could.

Economizing

Money has been our minds a lot lately. Not just because of the current state of the economy or the Monopoly game at McDonalds. We want to be good stewards of the money God has given us...we want to continue having me stay at home to raise the kids, we want to save money for retirement and childrens' college educations, we want to be able to give when we see a need, we want to pay our off mortgage as quickly as possible to get out of debt, and we want Corian countertops.

Oops. How did that one slip in there?

So one of the ways I've decided to economize is to start cutting coupons. I know this sounds like a waste of time (I mean, really - all that cutting just to save like $.50? Is it really worth the time and effort?), but there are serious "couponers" out there who take this very seriously. Like some Olympic sport. Just read some of their blogs and you'll see what I mean. They talk about their "stash" (of coupons), their CVS ECBs (huh?), and how they're able to get money back just for buying things they need anyway (come again?). I figured so long as it's something I'm able to do successfully in a short amount of time - because let's face it, with two little ones, time is at a major shortage around here - I would give it a try.

Ever the classic female multitasker, I'm always on the hunt for things to do while watching TV at night to maximize my time, like crocheting (I would love to learn how to make cute baby hats or pants or booties - anyone giving lessons? or patterns? or yarn?), planning the meals for the week, making Ryan's lunch for the next day, or fixing the hole in Lily's socks/sweater/tights/you-name-it...again. Cutting coupons takes no brainpower, and with all the new episodes of Chuck and Heroes and America's Next Top Model on now, I'm sure I'll have a "stash" built up in no time.

It seems one of the popular goals is to have a coupon for anything that is on sale so you can buy it at a store that doubles or triples coupons, and end up with an overage that puts money in your pocket.

Sounds easy, but the deals didn't really add up after one week's worth of coupons, no matter how many different grocery circulars I looked through. And the idea of buying a whole bunch of stuff I don't really need just because it's free or will put $.23 in my pocket sounds kind of silly, but there's probably good deals in the long-run, especially if you're pretty on-top of your family's regular grocery habits.

Note to self: Stay on top of family's regular grocery habits.

We'll see how it goes. Every little bit counts, right? I took my first trip to CVS today to rack up some ECBs (more on this phenomenon later), but Lily and Jacob decided this would be a good time to present a unified front of fussiness for all the world to see...and hear (and Mama forgot someone's pacifier, so I just kept giving the one I had to whomever was complaining the loudest...ahh yes, family germ sharing), so I couldn't really concentrate and figure out what I was doing. I ended up spending more money than I wanted to and having a whole bunch of ECBs that I couldn't spend on anything.

Oh well, at least I have them for next time...

The Monopoly Game

Every October, Ryan and I spend way too much time at McDonalds playing their Monopoly game. It's a tradition we've had for at least three or four years now. We even hunt for game pieces in other states while on vacation or business trips that coincide with the game (Ryan has a theory that the winning pieces are scattered about the country). It always ends with us not really winning anything (fries or a shake here, music downloads or a few photo prints there) and promising ourselves we're not going to eat any more McDonalds for a looong time...probably until the next October.

Whilst forcing down countless Big Macs and sausage burritos, we discuss what we would do with the $1 million, the $10K, even the $100. Amongst other things, our winnings (minus the 10% tithe and taxes) always go towards a vacation, the mortgage, and family.

Well, maybe not the $100. That we would probably just go to the diaper fund.

No Time

There are so many things I want to blog about, but I never seem to have the time to sit down and write about them all! Things near and dear to my heart...like breastfeeding, nursery time at the library (part 2), Jacob's total disregard for sleeping at night, and every new word that Lily learns. Just to name a few.

But alas, there is a baby whimpering downstairs, and I must go fetch/feed him before, "Hey, where'd everybody go? I'm hungry!" turns into "MUST EAT NOW!" So I can not even fully blog about what I am not able to blog about.

*Sigh* Where does the time go?

A Few More Words

Since my last post on Lily's speech progression, she's mastered another very important word: Opa (German for Grandpa).

Lily's Amazing Vocabulary

Hearing words come out of Lily's mouth in her sweet little voice just melts my heart. We've waited so long for her to yell "Mama!" or say "Bye-bye!" that I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing those words. Well, not anytime soon, anyway.

Last month, Lily had a follow-up speech progression appointment, and before we went, I made a list of all the words she could say, all the words she could sign, and all the animal noises she could make. I was surprised when I counted up the list and there were about 20 words! This included noise-like words, such as "Mmm-hmm" and "uh-uh".

Dr. Craig told me that 20 words for a 21-month-old was within the realm of normal (albeit the BOTTOM of normal, but whatever). Woohoo! That was fine with me. At 18 months, she was in the 15-month category, so to skip ahead six months within three was wonderful progress.

Within just the last few weeks, I feel like her vocabulary has really exploded. She's finally started mimicking all the words we say. I remember taking Lily's cousin Kirsten for a ride once, and we chit-chatted the whole way...me pointing out things we were driving past, her repeating the last word or two of everything I said, copying even my intonation exactly. I remember thinking, this is so sweet. I can't wait until Lily and I can have "conversations" like this.

And now for the first time, I feel like we're carrying on "conversations" of our own. She'll repeat words that I'm saying. She may not be saying them correctly or completely, but at least she's started trying and has an interest in talking...finally.

I know I saved that list, but can't find it at the moment, so I'll just list what she's saying now - which is even more.

Mama
Daddy (da-shee)
nice (ya-shee)
Oma (oh-wah)
Grandpa (pa-pa)
more (mah)
ball (bah)
bath (ba)
truck (vuh)
bus (buh)
bow [as in, the bow on your shoelace]
stuck (duck)
duck (duh)
yes (yesh)
mmm
uh-uh
uh-oh
Bumbo
elbow (beh-bo) ;)
shoe
amen (mah-mem)
wow [even though she wouldn't say it in the video]
yay!
Barbara (bar-bah) [even though she wouldn't say this, either]
done
all done (done done)
down (done)
up (uh!)
baby
bye-bye
pee pee
beep!
brother (buh-ber)
Pam
please (peas)
pea
bean (bee)
bee
swish swish swish (weesh weesh weesh) [what the wipers on the bus do]
round and round (wown wown wown) [what the wheels on the bus do]

There are a bunch more I can't think of right now. And then there's a bunch of things that she repeats after us, but does not initiate herself, like: mm-hmm, thank you (day doo), and I love you (wuh-voo).

Dr. Craig also said that by two years old, it's average to have 50 words and to be just starting to string together two or more words. My incomplete list above is already 40 words, so she's going to kick butt at her two year appointment.

Well, Jacob just decided to wake up after a 10-minute nap...but don't get me started on his recent inability to sleep...AT ALL.

Hand-Me-Ups?

So my favorite things to find at garage sales this summer are clothes and shoes for Jacob. Lily has enough clothes stored up (mostly hand-me-downs) to last her until she hits at least 5T. Crazy, I know. But not so for little DeeDob.*

I've found a few garage sales with really nice barely-worn boy clothes for $.50 or $1 a piece, including pairs of shoes and clothing from places like Old Navy, Baby Gap, and Carters. So I've been stocking up! But the funny thing is, many of the clothes I'm bringing home for Jacob to wear when he gets bigger fit Lily NOW. So I guess since he is currently wearing some of her non-feminine hand-me-downs from when she was a baby, does that mean she is wearing his hand-me-ups??

One garage sale's boy clothes had apparently been stored in moth balls. Yeck. Why do people do this? Don't they realize it's a toxin that never comes out? I didn't notice this smell until I got home, so I washed them, but the smell did not come out. I looked online and discovered that one of the ways to remove this smell is just to hang them outside for a while in cooler weather. That did the trick! No more moth ball smell, and now I can store them myself - moth ball free - until Jake is big enough to wear them.

* "DeeDob" is how Lily first said "Jacob." I thought it was adorable. Now she just calls him Brother, so I've taken up the DeeDob nickname myself.

Wordless Wednesday