Getting So Big

Nancy, This Is For You

Pretending To Be Asleep

Easter Videos, Part 4

The Blanket my Grandma Made

My paternal grandmother, who passed away last year, made this blanket for my cousin when my cousin was little. Last month, my cousin gave this blanket to us for the kids.



The blanket made by Jacob's great-grandma stays in his crib with the blanket made for him by his Mama.

Wordless Wednesday

Easter Videos, Part 3

It's Official: We Have a Crawler!

Tomorrow, I'll be posting a video of Jacob "crawling" like this on Easter. An everybody laughing. That was just two days ago! I always said that once he figured out how to move his hands, he'd be off and running - and I was right! I'll post a video soon. I was just so excited, I had to share.

Easter Videos, Part 2

A Day of Firsts

Saturday morning, after all four of us slept in wonderfully late (thank you THANK YOU, kids), we all went to breakfast at Ihop. We ordered Lily the Create-A-Face kids meal. The "face" they brought out was in actuality kind of scary, with drippy strawberry eyes, scattered banana lips, and a non-existent whipped cream nose. It also came with strawberry Go-Yurt for kids to squeeze on the pancake themselves, hence the "create" part of the name.

While there wasn't much creating going on at our table, we did have a chance to teach Lily how to drink yogurt from a tube, by squeezing the ends up as she went.



Someday, when Lily's married and her husband sees her squeeze every last ounce of paste out of the toothpaste tube, he will know who to thank.

And at the other end of the table, guess who learned how to drink through a straw?



Chubby little buddy! I was not expecting it to happen so quickly. And how ironic that Lily also learned how to drink through a straw at the same Ihop! I remember with Lily, Ryan and I were cheering so loudly when she finally did it (we had tried many times before), that the waitress came over to see what was going on - and started cheering, too!

Ryan and I can not get over how big of a boy Jacob is suddenly. My goodness, he will be ONE next month. It almost pains me to say that...my little baby! I know this is going to sound cliche, but they really do grow up SO fast... After he drank through the straw, we talked about how we underestimate his abilities so frequently. Is it because he's so small for his age? Or is it just because he's number two? Or maybe it's a combination of both.



(The two men in my life.)

Easter Videos, Part 1

Little Old Man

Happy Easter (Almost)

Here's a sneak peek of what's to come:

Go Get Your Free Stuff

I thought people might not want to read another post about how to get free stuff, but then I thought, really? Who doesn't like free?!

Here are the best/easiest deals I've seen or done lately:

Mac'N'Cheese crackers:
http://www.nabiscoworld.com/macncheesecrackers/KMC_Crackers_Refund_Offer_Form.pdf
Free after rebate.

Pert for Men:
http://www.trypertplusfree.com/forms/pertplusmen_rebate.pdf
Though I haven't found this in a store yet... If anyone does, let me know.

Seattle's Best coffee:
http://www.seattlesbest.com/media/special/SBC_MBG-Refund_Offer_Form.pdf
I bought this at Shoprite last night. I cut it open to get the UPC off the bag, and it smelled SO GOOD. Too bad it was midnight and I was in no mood to caffeinate myself.

Juicy Juice sippy cup:
http://www.juicyjuice.com/Login/Register.aspx
Mine came in the mail today - I was just thinking yesterday how I really wanted to buy Jacob his own new sippy cup, instead of just using Lily's hand-me-downs!

Quaker True Delights bar:
https://smartsource.wufoo.com/forms/get-your-free-sample/
Fill out the form and it will get sent to you. I got mine in the mail last week and it was SO GOOD.
Milk Matters coloring book:
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs_details.cfm?from=milk&pubs_id=5639
Got Lily's in the mail last week. We can always use new coloring books!

Glucerna cereal:
https://glucerna.com/offer/coupon.aspx?s=ruby
Fill this out and you'll get a coupon good for up to $5 a box of cereal. You can print it twice, and use it on two boxes. I bought two boxes for $4-something each at CVS, so they were both free.

Speaking of cereal...there is a strawberry SmartStart cereal or a blueberry MiniWheats cereal that you can try for free. Just go to your grocery store and find the box with the big, yellow, "Try it Free!" across the top, and fill out the rebate form inside the box.

Here's a nice money-maker at CVS this month:
http://thefreebieblogger.com/cvs-april-deals-natural-dentist-moneymaker/
You basically buy 2 of these mouth rinses to qualify for the $10 mail-in rebate, but you also get $4 extra bucks for each, so you earn about $8 in the end. Not too shabby.

Don't forget - you can still sign up at any Aerie for their A-List club, and get a free gift once a month. Last month was a cute floral tote bag, this month was body spray. Free is good.

Every day, it's like my birthday getting the mail. I never know what's going to be in there! Will it be a free product? (Today was the sippy cup.) Will it be a rebate? (Yesterday's was for peanut butter.)

OK, I have to stop stalling now. Both kids are sleeping and I have to finish cleaning the house before friends come over tonight. I'm SUCH a good staller...

Wordless Wednesday