Life Update

Every so often I look through my camera and realize I have a month's worth of pictures I haven't uploaded. This is their story.

These pictures are from when Joy came to visit us a couple of weeks ago! Brianna became enthralled with Joy particularly at the end of the visit, when Joy began eating her feet. She would kiss on Bri's feet and after a second Bri would push her feet back in Joy's face. I told Joy to watch out - she could do that all night! It was really cute.

Nothing like sitting by a warm fire after your bath!

Brianna graduated from rice cereal to peas!

And then graduated to a high chair!

I was a princess for Halloween:

Stephen was a dad (how original) and Brianna just wore this cute outfit that mom got her from a yard sale:

Now we've moved on to... prunes!! Yes!

Brianna has done SO GOOD with eating solids. From day one she acted like she knew exactly what she was supposed to do. We are wondering what is going to be the food she dislikes. Maybe she'll be like her mommy and eat everything in sight! Anyway, she's always so cute when she eats. She makes lots of noises, sometimes spits, and is always eager for the next bite. This video is from yesterday when I was feeding her with one hand and recording with the other. That's why the video is a bit shaky and so is the feeding! Haha!

Morrow Mountain

On Friday, I invited myself and Brianna to go to Morrow Mountain with mom and dad. They go up a couple of times a year, particularly in the fall to look at the leaves changing color. One great thing about not working - we can take off whenever we want to!! The drive up was beautiful and so relaxing. It was a little misty on the drive, but not once we got to our destination.

Brianna's first trip to the mountains and first picnic!

While I fed Brianna, mom and dad hiked one of the trails. They came back and got us, surprising us with friends from home! See dad's blog to find out who it was!!

Then we all prepared for the next trail. Brianna loves this backpack that dad got from a yard sale.

Fresh mussels, anyone?

The trip was so much fun and it was really nice to take a day trip! Mom and dad were very gracious to let us go with them, particularly because Brianna cried until she fell asleep both there and back. She just wanted to see the leaves too!

Rabbit Rabbit

I'm posting this in a hurry to get in my first post for NaBloPoMo (post every day for the month of November). I just got in a great nap and Brianna and Stephen are still asleep so this is my one opportunity.

I have to blog about our trip with mom and dad to Morrow Mountain! A blog with pictures is soon to come about that.

Last night was Brianna's first Fall Festival at church. She wasn't in costume, but did wear an orange outfit with a pumpkin on it that mom got at a yard sale. I, however, was a princess. I have pictures of that too!

And today one of Stephen's coworkers, Robert, and his son, Emory, drove from Fayetteville to come to church (they came to the festival last night too) and we ate out at Olive Garden after church. It was really good! Emory is going to be 2 in December and he's soooo cute.

So hopefully you will see a blog (albeit short at times!) every day of November from me. So keep checking back!

Productivity

This was my productive "task" today:

That is pear sauce for Brianna (once we get to fruits)! Each cube is one tablespoon worth of food, which is what she's eating at one meal now, so one tray equals 14 meals! I got more than this out of the pears mom graciously gave to me but this is just one tray of them. Now I will freeze them, and once they're cubed, be able to thaw them anytime for her to eat. So far she's only eaten rice cereal and peas, and next on the agenda is PRUNES! But soon enough she'll be eating fruits.

I have to tell you how much mom and dad have BLESSED us recently. Well, they always do, but it seems like God is really using them lately! Stephen had been talking about getting car ramps or a new car jack for my car. He always changes the brakes for me (savings = $400!) and our little dinky jack isn't cutting it anymore. It's really unsafe. I gave him the green light on spending whatever he needed to on a new jack. Well, then just a few days ago, dad sent me an email saying he had found two "barely used" car ramps (as if we care!) that he thought Stephen might be interested in. When I asked Stephen, his reply was, "Heck yes!" That was such a huge blessing!!

Well then Brianna and I went to their house for lunch yesterday as we always do, and got another huge blessing! Mom just out of the blue said, "Do you need any onions?" Boy did I! I needed onions for two recipes I am making in November (I like to plan ahead!) and I only had about 1/2 cup left in the freezer. I am going to freeze most of the onions but use one to step outside of my box and make onion rings. So that was a blessing because it saved me money! Then she offered me apples and pears! As you know, I used the pears for baby food which saves a TON of money! The apples I am either going to make applesauce or apple fritters. I have to find my fritters recipe so if I can't find it within a couple of days I'll make applesauce for Brianna and freeze it. Mom and dad also gave me two ice cube trays so I didn't have to buy any! Although I did end up getting three more from Family Dollar today for $1.50 because it'll never hurt to have more on hand. ALSO, while I was at mom and dad's, my great-aunt Elsie called telling mom she had a bucket full of grapes that she needed someone to take off her hand. Mom refused, but I said I would take them! They were just going to go bad. I'll make jelly and try to find people who need some! I love making jelly and haven't done it in a couple of years. Then I was telling mom how I needed to get some bleach so I could bleach the spoon I got for Bri at Myrtle Beach and I couldn't believe we had run out! Well, she ran right down to the basement and got me a whole thing of bleach! I just couldn't believe it. Of course she wouldn't let me pay anything for all this. It took all my strength to pay her $1. Then I was telling her about this stain in a shirt I found and she knows a frugal recipe for a stain remover. We had one ingredient (powdered Cascade) but not the other (powdered Clorox II) so I volunteered to purchase that and we can share those ingredients. So that will kind of pay her back for all the stuff they've given us. I know they don't care about being paid back but it makes me feel guilty. I'm sure I've forgotten something they've given us, this is all just from the past few days so you see we are never without anything with mom and dad nearby! So thank you so much to mom and dad! They have saved us money and we feel so blessed because like everyone else, money is tight for us! But it is cool because like, today I saw soups on sale at the store and I was able to buy some for around $0.39 with coupons and I am just going to hand those off to someone else who needs them. So I love to pay it forward!! And I love being blessed by someone because then I get a chance to bless someone else!

Long post over! Baby is crying, chicken's on the grill, and I gotta GO!!

Can I Go Back?

Oh my goodness, our trip to the beach this past weekend was so much fun! The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was in the 70's and sunny both days we were there. Friday morning I left Brianna with mom and dad and set out with four other ladies to Myrtle Beach. We later met up with 14 other women who drove down at all times of the day. I am so glad I drove down with the people I did because it turned out we are all thrift store lovers!! We were in no hurry to get to our hotel, so when we arrived in Myrtle Beach around noon, we just started driving around spotting thrift stores. When we were checking out we'd just ask the cashiers about others in the area. It's so much fun just to cruise around town finding them on your own though. It reminded me so much of the trip Jenn, Mom and I took to Greenville. I told everyone in our car about that trip!! Anyway I got some AWESOME deals!!

At our first stop, I got this CUTE pair of pants for Brianna (they are 2T). I guess you can't really see but the buttons are flowers and they are kind of glittery.

I also got a dozen toddler spoons/forks brand new in the box for our children. My friend Renee who has a toddler says you can never have too many of these. And they were $1.00! When I went to check out, the guy rang the pants up at $2.50 (!!!) and I pointed out the sign to him which stated "All children's clothes 0-3T $1.00". I said, "These are 2T!" He apologized, said he didn't have any children, and rang them up as $1.00. Woot woot!

We stopped at TJ Maxx and I got these cute cards for $2.00. I write a lot of letters so I am always looking out for interesting notecards! Plus, they were marked down from $6.00, so sounds good to me!

Later on the trip we went to the mall and at the Old Navy they were having some great sales! I found a tank top that I loved and it was 50% off it's marked price - which was $1.99! So I went through the racks and got all the tank tops selling for that price. I'm keeping one and selling the others on eBay. You can't beat a shirt for $0.99!

At another thrift store, I was able to get Bri a cute 18-month outfit for $1.00. It was actually marked $2 but I haggled with the lady. I can't stand to pay over $1 for anything!!

We went to the Salvation army where I got a great wooden spoon (I love cooking with wooden spoons!) and a baby spoon for Brianna for $0.29. When I got in line my friend Linda pointed out that kids clothes were Buy One Get One Free, so of course I had to go look! I found a brand new Old Navy jacket so I picked it up thinking I could sell it on eBay. I picked up another cute outfit for Brianna that she didn't need, but hey, it was going to end up to be 50 cents or something. So as I was checking out I realized my friend Renee has a little boy who the jacket might fit. So I asked her if he could use it. Turns out he needed a new jacket and she was going to get him one on the trip! I mean, this jacket was super nice and I really think it was brand new. Of course she wanted it! She offered to pay for it and I said, "No way! That's the free one!" Haha! I love it when things like that happened. When I checked out, the cashier said, "Can I please keep the two pennies that would be your change? I really need pennies!" Of course I said SURE! And then started digging through my wallet to give her all my pennies. Well then the four other women I was with overheard and started digging through their wallets! Then two other customers saw what we were doing and did the same! Soon this lady was having to cup both her hands to get all the pennies, dumping them into her cash register and holding her hands back out! One of the other customers said, "What about nickels? Do you need any nickels?" and the lady said, "Lord no! I just need some pennies! Look at how the Lord is providing! Pennies from heaven! Ask and you shall receive!" She was just laughing and we all started laughing. It was so funny! I've thought about that several times since it happened - this cashier who was so grateful for pennies. What a great moment!

At the Kitchen Collection, which is one of my favorite stores, I bought four of those can toppers so your soda won't go flat. Also so bugs don't fly in there. We had those growing up and I've looked everywhere for them. They were only 59 cents each so I bought four. I also bought a chopper/scooper for the kitchen which everyone on the Food Network uses and I've been so jealous. I splurged on that ($2.99) but it will be so worth it!

I splurged in another store too, called $5 Christian Books. Although after you walk in the signs say "$5 unless otherwise marked." Don't you hate that?? Anyway I paid big time for two books. One is a Comparative Study Bible. It compares the Bible translations of NIV, KJV, NASB and AMP. I paid $30 big bucks for that one, but I love looking at other Bible translations although we primarily use KJV and NKJV. I know you can look them up online but there's something about having them on hand as well. The other thing is a gift for Brianna. It's a book called "100 Ways to Know God Loves Me!" and comes with two CDs. So you can read a page in the book about something specific, say discipline, and it has a short story that says something like "Just like your mom and dad may punish you when you do something wrong, God may punish us to teach us to obey." Then you play #13 on the CD and it plays "Trust and Obey". I love it! It was definitely worth $7.

At Home Goods I was able to get this great skillet for only $15! It had a little scratch on one side which you really can't even see, so they gave me a 10% discount. I'm gonna scratch it up anyway, might as well take the discount!

I also got a great soap caddy for $1. It will replace the ashtray we are keeping our soap in right now. That will make us one step further from Redneckville.

And then at one last thrift store I was able to get 8 books for $2. Six for Bri and two for me. One First Dictionary, one Bible dictionary, and a few of my favorites and "I Can Read" books. Yay!

That's just the shopping portion of the trip. This trip was so memorable and I learned way too many things about some of these girls. No, it was so much fun. I have to admit it felt so good to hold my baby girl again when we got home late Saturday night!! But I wouldn't have missed the trip for the world. Thank you mom, dad and Stephen for making it possible for me to go!!

Not Happening

Tomorrow I'm going on my first overnight trip away from Bri! Stephen is keeping her (eek!) so that I can go to the beach with some girlfriends from church. Unfortunately, Brianna thinks the girls trip includes babies...





Not happening!! I am excited about going away and having some adult time. I know Stephen is racking his brain to think of ways to occupy her - for example, tomorrow night a friend and his 17-month old will be visiting our house, and I'm sure Grandpa Steve and Kathy will see her Saturday. I found a large supply of breastmilk in our outside freezer that I had forgotten was out there! So that's good news - I thought Bri was going to turn into a formula baby while I was gone. (Obviously there is nothing wrong with that, I'm just kidding!) Mom and dad are graciously watching Brianna for what could be six long hours until Stephen gets off work. That should be interesting. I'm much more worried for them than Brianna. She's got enough toys at their house to occupy her that whole time so I can't see her having any issues.

I can't wait! Yay!

Vacay!

I want to blog about our trip to Georgia before I put it off and put it off and then totally forget about it. We went to Georgia from Friday to Monday so that Bri could see her family down there for the first time in a few months. The real plan was to go down there and see her Opa (that's German for "grandfather") when he returned from Baghdad. Unfortunately his return date has been pushed back so we won't get to see him until Thanksgiving. We decided it was still a great opportunity to test the waters with long-distance traveling with Brianna since we always go see them at Christmas.

Thursday night I could tell Stephen was really itching to go! He didn't want to leave too late and get stuck in traffic in Atlanta, especially if something happened and Brianna hated traveling. But he kept saying, "What time is too early to leave??" I know him well enough to know that tone of voice now. Our plan was to leave after Bri's morning feeding, which could come anytime between 4am and 10am depending on the day. When she woke up Friday morning at 4:30 for a feeding, I knew we were in trouble. I went ahead and showered and finished packing, and Stephen packed the car while I fed her. We were on the road by 6am and he was ecstatic! Brianna was asleep 13 minutes after we pulled out of the driveway, and I was right behind her. She did beautifully for the 7-hour drive. We stopped a few times - bathroom breaks for the adults, food and gas, and fed her just whenever we got the chance. She didn't eat great on the road, all scrunched in the backseat with me, but it was enough to keep her going!

Out of the whole time we were there, I got ZERO pictures! Everytime there was a picture opportunity I picked up Leila's camera while mine stayed in my suitcase. I can't believe it!

The trip was a lot of fun. It definitely took some time for Brianna to adjust to different settings. She didn't eat well until Saturday night, when I think she was finally starting to get used to everything. She didn't ever sleep well at night - and therefore, neither did we, because we were all three in the same room. It was bad enough that one morning I woke up with her beside me in the bed and Stephen told me I had put her in there at 2:30 that morning. I never even remembered doing it! Talk about sleep deprivation! But she was napping a lot during the day and I think that just threw her off. She didn't sleep well Monday night either, and she had napped a lot on the ride home from Georgia. Yesterday she was back on a normal schedule and last night she was back to her regular 9 hours a night.

Bri certainly didn't lack for attention while we were there! I'm not sure that her family got to see the full extent of her playing abilities, but they certainly got a good amount of her kisses!! By the time we were leaving she was well-adjusted to her new surroundings, just for us to whisk her off back home. We were able to go to Josh and Jenn's soccer games (well, I just went to one of each), Zaxby's twice, Five Guys, bought a stroller for use down there, and had lots of quality time with our family!

One of the coolest things is that I was able to go to Plato's Closet to buy a pair of jeans. Almost every pair I own is stretched to the max or starting to rip, so I wanted a nice pair of used jeans. Amazingly, I found a paid of 7 For All Mankind jeans for $20! $20!!!
Maybe it's only Jenn that really appreciates that but those jeans retail on average around $180 or more. Success!! They are a perfect fit and I'm so happy to own my very first pair of 7 jeans!

Better go. Bri has entertained herself now for the better part of 20 minutes which means I only have a few more minutes before she'll want to be picked up!

Real Food - Hallelujah!

That's what Brianna is saying now - "Real food - hallelujah!" We went to Georgia from Friday to Monday and during our stay Bri turned six months old. We celebrated by eating chocolate cake in her honor. I'll write about that visit later, but I wanted to post these pictures while I have the chance. When we got home last night we fed her rice cereal for the first time. We didn't really know what to expect, but she loved it! After the first bite, she was reaching for the spoon almost every time, and by the end she had learned to suck all of it in really fast like a vacuum. The only problem was we had to put her in the Bumbo and she gets tired of that after a few minutes. But she's still just a bit too little for her high chair. Anyway, here are the best pictures from her experience!














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