Christmas Eve

was quiet but nice. We went over to my mom's house for dinner. All my brothers are home, but no one else this year. We had our traditional snacky/hors d'ouerves dinner and chatted for awhile. Then Jeremy and I brought the kids home and tried to get them to bed while my brothers picked a game to play.

They came over with Texas Hold 'Em. It was fun to learn a new game. Of course, Rinnah didn't stay down long, but she played fairly happily in the swing while we played cards. It was nice to have people over and still be able to play with Ian in bed.

Tomorrow morning we'll go over there to open gifts and hopefully play some more games. It's a good thing we have a van now to 'travel' for the holidays...even just to go for the day we're going to bring over a crazy amount of stuff. I'm glad we don't have to travel far though, especially with the icy roads.

Fantastic trip at Wal-mart!

Today I got this. My original total was $155.69

After coupons, my total was $17.13! (typo on facebook, ignore) And $8.34 was tax!

1 Baby Alive doll
1 Clue game
3 packs of Play-doh
1 FurReal baby panda
1 Monopoly Town game
1 Mr Potato Head chef outfit
1 Mr Potato Head Spud Buds
8 TGIF frozen appetizers
12 Post-it page markers
12 pairs of toddler underwear
4 boxes of baking soda (2.5 pounds)
1 bottle of generic vapo-rub
2 packs of Pillsbury crescent rolls
1 trial size conditioner
3 packs Hefty Onezip bags (21 bags)

Ian will get some of the play-doh and the Mr. Potato Head things, but the doll, game, FurReal, and at least one play-doh I want to donate to Toys for Tots. I hope I haven't missed the deadline for donating.

I apologized to the people in line behind me since I knew it would take awhile, and we struck up a conversation about couponing. The lady was a former couponer but had given it up because she had trouble staying organized. She & her husband said I inspired them to start clipping coupons again! She was cheering for me too and was excited to see how low my total was. It was fun, and I hope these toys will make a better Christmas for some kids.

Potty training day 2

Turned out better than I thought it would.

Apparently he's only afraid of the toilet when he's tired, which includes the first 30 minutes or so after he wakes up. Then he's okay.

Mixed results again today. Far more pees on the floor, but he's getting the idea and he's trying. We sort of got a poop on the potty today. He started to poop, then came & got me, and shook it out on the toilet. Not a bad start, IMO.

We're giving up on the nighttime thing for now. He can just wear a diaper at night. Yes, we're copping out because we're tired and feel kind of guilty for that. But at least until he starts telling us he needs to go, rather than just realizing he started to pee, I think it's the best choice for all of our sanity.

So tomorrow we want to leave the house. And we were considering taking him with us. That will add a whole new dimension.

Potty training-day 1

had mixed results.

All morning, he happily sat on the potty, although the only times he peed it was on the living room floor. At naptime, he peed on the floor to his room (better than the bed, right?) No biggie.

But when he woke up from his nap, I don't know what got into him. He was cranky because he hadn't slept quite as long as normal, and when I tried to put him on the potty it was like he had developed a sudden huge terrifying fear of the toilet. He screamed, flailed, and absolutely refused to sit on the potty. He wanted to be held. But he kept letting little squirts of pee loose. I did not want to hold him at that point, which made him madder. After an hour and a half of fussing and struggling, he suddenly decided he was ready to sit on the potty. Lo and behold, we got our first pee in the potty!! Granted, it was only a tiny amount, since he had been spurting all over the house, but still, major progress! We did the whole big hoopla, called Daddy upstairs from work, got the dog sticker he's been eying for weeks, the whole nine yards.

The rest of the afternoon went okay. Lots of sitting on the potty and lots of peeing on the floor. But when he's in the potty, he clearly has the idea of what he's trying to do now. He did get one really good pee in. I think it was actually a pretty good first day.

Then came nighttime.

Night has been more challenging lately because Rinnah will go down around 8-9pm, but then she's back up after half an hour and won't go to sleep until nearly midnight. She usually only gets up once and often sleeps until 9-10am. By herself that's great for a five month old, much better than Ian. But when Rinnah doesn't go down until midnight, Ian and Rinnah are each up once or twice, Rinnah eating once, and then we're all up at 7-it's taking it's toll. I went ahead with potty training anyway because I figure I've been tired since Ian was born; if I wait until I'm getting good sleep he'll be in college.

So, last night we decided to try the underwear. Ian's still back and forth between the crib and toddler bed, so the plan was to make up two sides of one mattress plus the other bed. We figured he could have two accidents in the toddler bed; after that we'd put him in a diaper in the crib. Good idea, but Ian wanted to sleep in the crib. Okay, fine.

Jeremy & I took turns with Rinnah until about 11:30, then I went to bed and he got her to sleep. At 12:15 Ian wakes up wet and completely hysterical. Won't sit on the potty, doesn't want to wear underwear OR a diaper, doesn't want new pj's, just wants to sit in my lap naked in a room that reeks of pee because I haven't been able to clear off the wet sheets yet. Needless to say, I am not excited about this plan. Eventually, with Jeremy's help, I got a diaper on him, and then Jeremy went back to bed. A few minutes later, Ian suddenly decided he was fine with putting on new pajama pants. But he still wouldn't lay back down. He has a bit of a cold, but it's not that bad. I think this was mostly confusion about waking up wet, plus he's normally a beast when he's tired. I spent an hour and a half with him, thought he was asleep, slipped into the hallway, and heard Rinnah awake. So I got her resettled, came back out, and Ian's awake again. I tried to help him, but I just reached a point where I told him Mommy had to go to sleep and thankfully, he settled down. Now it's 2:30 and I'm finally back in bed. At 3:20 Rinnah is up. She probably doesn't need to eat yet, but I'm not awake enough to process that idea until she's already half done eating. At 4am I had Jeremy rock her back to sleep. Then I had a dream that we had hired someone to get the kids for five hours a night and I didn't have to get up, only to realize it was only a dream and Ian was awake again. Not even sure what time that was, but it only took a few minutes to get him settled. Then at 7 it's time to get up. Ugh. I hate nights like that.

So this morning we got up, I mustered up some enthusiasm from somewhere, and got all excited for Ian to get on the potty and wear underwear again. But he was like he was after his nap. Completely and utterly refusing to even take off the diaper, let alone sit on the potty.

My current plan is to leave him in this diaper until he's ready to try again (provided he doesn't poop) and then go at the potty training again. I'm too exhausted to push him any harder than that. I know consistency is important, so I'm not quitting, but my goodness this would be easier on a few more hours of sleep. I think my kids are conspiring against me already.

Potty training

Well, here goes nothing.

I was all set to start yesterday. I've been making some freezer meals, we did the big trip to pick out underwear, and made sure all his pants are clean and ready to go.

But then Ian started coming down with a cold, and was up sniffling and hacking until 1am, then I was up with Rinnah at 5:45 to feed her and she never did go back to sleep. And then Ian woke up uber cranky. I tried to do the "You're a big kid now!" thing anyway. I took him to the potty and was all excited for him, but he said "no" and ran away. On 4 hours of sleep, I didn't have the patience or energy to fight him, so I gave up.

We tried again this morning, and thus far it's gone better. He likes the underwear and is wearing them proudly. We're setting a timer and he's sitting on the potty every 20 minutes. So far, nothing has happened on the potty, just one accident on the floor in the living room right after a potty stop. Hopefully this afternoon will get us off to a better start. I really think that if he could just go on the potty once and get the concept, we'd be well on our way.

Our first ER visit

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I'm kinda surprised we made it this long.

Tonight I was making dinner and of course Ian was trying to help me (Jeremy was out at Home Depot). He did fine until we were trying to clean up. We had used chicken broth and he grabbed one of the cans by the lid. I started to say, "No! Don't touch that." He went to yank his hand away and wound up slicing off at least half his fingertip. Still attached on one side, but a pretty deep cut. So I called Jeremy to come right home and thankfully my mom was able to come over and stay with Rinnah, who was sleeping at the time.

He did awesome. He calmed down within a few minutes and wasn't even crying. He did cry when they gave him the shots of Lidocaine, but I don't blame him. Those suckers burn, and there were four people holding him. During the stitches he didn't flinch. He actually was trying to watch. They said they have 10 year olds worse than him. They'd called in an extra nurse because they said normally stitching a two year old is pretty terrible, but we didn't need her. He sat perfectly still through the whole thing.

So four stitches later, he's doing great. They gave him a whole pile of stickers. He though he was just picking one, so that was very exciting. And he had a great time saying bye and waving to all the nurses and the other patients.

Walgreens

Woohoo! A great run at Walgreens today, even though they didn't have the best product for my deals. I still think this was pretty good:

5 12-packs of Sprite
5 fancy soap bars that I'm not allergic to ($4.49 each-ouch!)
2 packs paper plates
12 Lindt chocolate bars
4 Hershey chocolate bars
1 large roll Reynolds foil
3 tubes toothpaste
4 toothbrushes
2 air freshener candles

Pre-coupon total: $117.74
Coupons: $79.35
Register rewards: $23
Net total: $15.39

So that was cheaper than the original price of just the soap! I love it when Walgreens pays me to buy what I want, as long as I take a bunch of other products home with me too. :)

Peek-a-boo

That's the new game around here.

Ian plays with Rinnah. He hasn't quite got the words down yet, but he'll go up to her, cover his face with his hands, then pull them away with a big grin. She always laughs.

Today she was really cranky, in that just before sleep point, when Ian woke up from his nap. I laid her down to get Ian out of his crib and she just started wailing. Poor Ian was a bit groggy and not at his best either, but he was such a sweetheart. He came over and gave her a big hug. Then he said "iss", and gave her two kisses on her head. By this point she had stopped crying and was smiling at him. Then he played peek-a-boo with her until she started laughing before he went back to being grumpy and whiny himself. It was the sweetest thing! I love how he thought of her and took care of her even when he wasn't feeling his best.

They're playing together more and more. They each think the other is ten times more entertaining than either mom or dad, and it's so much fun to watch! I wish Ian were more cooperative about us catching these moments on video!

A milestone

We are now officially OLD.

From Van

We just bought this.

The only thing more embarrassing than owning a minivan is the fact that we really like it.

It's amazing how much smaller our cute little sporty hatchback got once we added the second car seat, the second diaper bag, and all the extra sorts of luggage that seem to go along with small children. Just for a day out we find ourselves needing the stroller, two diaper bags, snacks, books, toys, a baby carrier, blankets...it's crazy. When we went to Chicago for the weekend we had more than we did when we moved to Thailand for a year.

Now we have room galore. And when the kids are fussing, there's room for me to sit between them with both my hips intact. I can even put my arms beside me instead of in their car seats. And the next time we buy a dresser or outside toy off craigslist, or we want to take two friends along somewhere, we can do so all in one trip.

Chalk one up for team "minivan mama".

Long overdue update

I keep thinking I'll wait until I get all my pictures uploaded and then make a big post, but that may be awhile yet.

Recent events-my grandma passed away last week. She was 86 years old. My dad's death last spring was especially hard on her. He was the second son (of 3) she's had to bury, and she just never got over it. She got depressed, stopped eating, and stopped taking care of herself. In some ways it may be for the better. She was getting more forgetful, and there was some question of whether she should still be allowed to drive. If you knew my grandma, you'd know that living with someone else to help her was just not an option she would consider under any circumstances. As it was, she passed presumably in her sleep, in her own room. It's the way she wanted it.

We were able to make it to Chicago for the funeral. Jeremy had been out of town for work but was able to catch an early flight back and we left at 5am Saturday morning. Thankfully, both kids slept for most of the way and we were able to get there and change clothes with 15 minutes to spare. Ian was not happy about sitting still after the long ride, and Rinnah was fidgety so neither of us got to hear the whole service, but I'm still glad we were able to be there. We spent the afternoon with my family and then came home that evening. The trip home didn't go so well, and for a couple days afterwards Ian was still pretty difficult. Overall though, it gave us hope that maybe someday we could go somewhere. Not yet, but maybe someday.

This week Rinnah had her 4 month checkup. She is now 24" long and weighs 13lbs 11oz. She's growing! She is a very happy baby-she smiles all the time and laughs a lot.

This week all 4 of us seem to be fighting some sort of a cold, so that's not much fun. Hopefully we'll all be rested up and better by the time the weekend is over.

The sweetest moments

Tonight Jeremy was playing with Ian, tossing him on the couch and blowing raspberries on his tummy while we were filling the bathtub. I had Rinnah, who has been unusually grumpy all day from teething. But every time Jeremy swung Ian around or blew on his tummy, Rinnah just burst out laughing, big old belly laughs. Ian of course was having a ball too. It was so much fun to have the living room full of laughter. What a great way to end the day!

Back to normal

Jeremy's been back for a few days now and I'm finally feeling like we're back on a normal schedule. We had a nice weekend-got a few things done around the house, and even made a trip to Springfield and Rinnah only screamed for about 60% of the driving.

Our next major goal around here is working on potty training. Everybody seems to have a different idea about what the best or easiest way is and everybody is convinced that their way is far superior. We'll probably just try a few ideas and see if we make any progress.

Quick stop at Walgreens

Made a quick stop in Walgreens on my way to get Ian's haircut.

3 bottles of Visine -$.63
6 acne skin cleansers $.49
7 pairs of socks for Rinnah $3 clearance
(they won't let me leave with a negative balance anymore)
Total with tax $3.60 (tax was $.74)


So we got Ian's haircut-I'm quite proud of that! Yes, we were a little late and showed up just after 5pm, but it's a friend from church and he was kind enough to stay and cut Ian's hair anyway. Then off to Mom's for dinner (yea! no cooking while alone with two kids) and then Mom followed me home to be my reinforcements for bedtime. That helped a LOT. I think things went more smoothly tonight. Hopefully they'll both sleep better than last night.

Only 2.5 more nights until Jeremy's back.

Walmart freebies

Before Jeremy left, we made a trip to Walmart sans kiddos to get him a new belt. (Kinda sad what date nights have become!) I used up a couple coupons there too:

4 Post-it flags
1 John Frieda Frizz-ease mousse trial size
4 Gold Bond medicated powder trial size
4 packs of Kotex pads
2 jars of relish

Total: -$.20
So it was cheaper to take that stuff than not, even with tax. :)

On my own

Jeremy headed out to New Jersey today for a class, so I'm on my own with both kiddos until late late Wednesday night. Yikes. We're not off to a great start-I went to the church business meeting tonight to find out what's happening since the sewer backup flood and put in my two cents (well, four cents since I was representing Jeremy too) and that went waaaaaay late. We didn't get home until a few minutes after 8, a whole hour late. Poor Ian was starving and tired and so confused about why daddy wasn't coming home from church with us-I guess we'd been there so long (3 hours+) that he forgot Jeremy hadn't been there when we arrived. I got home and both kiddos were screaming as I tried to simultaneously nurse Rinnah, make Ian's dinner & help him eat, get Ian's bath running, get diapers & pj's ready for both kids, and get Rinnah changed. I was quite pleased when Ian was in bed and Rinnah was asleep in her cradle after only about 40 minutes. But Ian isn't going to sleep yet-it's always hard when the routine is off, and starting late didn't help-so I'm sitting in his room waiting for him to fall asleep. Hopefully the rest of the week goes a little more smoothly.

And now he's sick too

So Ian was up a couple times last night getting sick and couldn't keep down his breakfast. Lovely. When he's not sick he's acting fine though, and he doesn't really have a fever, so our best guess is it's just the stress from traveling and not sleeping. Yup, definitely staying home for the next couple of years.

Hmmm....maybe closer to stupid

First the bad news. We're not leaving overnight again until Ian is 18.

Nights were pretty terrible. The first night we got into the hotel at about midnight. Ian was exhausted so he didn't put up much of a fight going down. He was up about 4 times but did go back to sleep with some reassurance. Not great, but livable. It was the second night that sealed the deal. Over two hours trying to get him to sleep, then he was up for over three hours straight in the middle of the night. And of course since we only have one room, anytime Ian was up, so was Rinnah. Blech. We actually seriously debated coming home a day early, but since we knew we weren't going anywhere again for a very long time, we decided to tough it out for one more night, which was better but certainly not awesome. So now we have two very overtired kids with some overtired parents. Oh, and Rinnah screamed for a good portion of the 4.5hr ride home. I'm disappointed since this has pretty well dashed our hopes of making it to California this year. Between a little one who screams while in her carseat and now a toddler who isn't great in the car and apparently has major difficulty sleeping away from home, I think it's just too far for us right now.

On the bright side, Ian LOVED the Children's Museum. Everything was geared towards younger kids and there was so much he could do and explore. He loved pushing all the buttons, turning gears, and pulling handles to see what would happen. The water exhibit was a big hit too. And he loved the car room with toy cars to race. He also got a big kick out of just seeing what would be next with so much to do.

The Museum of Science and Industry went better than we expected too. We actually got to see (at least briefly) most of the museum. There was an Idea Factory exhibit for kids that Ian thoroughly enjoyed-lots of balls and bubbles to play with there. And he loved climbing in the big tractor and combine and pretending to drive them. Jeremy's favorite exhibit was definitely the toy factory-a whole room full of fancy robots & computers to drool over. We all enjoyed the huge model train exhibit too.

We have pics, but that will have to wait until after I get some real sleep.

Overall, I'm glad we went. Partly because it was a lot of fun to watch Ian exploring and enjoying all the different activities. And partly because now we really know what our kids are like when we uproot their schedule and leave home overnight. I think this was a stretch for them, so it's good that we found this out before trying to travel somewhere 12 hours away instead of 4 or being gone for a week instead of a few days. Hopefully they'll be better travelers in another year or two and we can try again.

Day 1-Shedd Aquarium

The trip up here was better than we expected. Not as good as we had hoped, but better than we expected. Rinnah made it almost 60 miles on the highway either happy or sleeping, which was great. Then she had a meltdown, and it was 10 more miles before there was an exit, so she was pretty hysterical by then. After 25 minutes or so, we got her calmed down and fed and we were back on the road. That lasted for another half hour-ish, when we had to stop again. We did diapers for everyone and hit the road again. And both kids dozed for the most part. Some fussing from both, but no more all-out hysterics. Things were going great until the last 4 miles of the trip, when there was construction taking the expressway down to one lane. So the last 4 miles took 40 minutes. We arrived at the hotel close to midnight, and had everyone asleep by about 12:30.

This morning we headed out to the Shedd Aquarium. Ian had a lot of fun. "ish!" he kept saying ("fish"). Just like his daddy, he found the buttons and touchscreens more interesting than the actual fish. There was also a play area where kids could climb in a tent, pretend to cook, sit in a boat, play with stuffed fish & raccoons-he really enjoyed that.

The drives today were a little rougher, but we survived.

We also visited my grandma. She's in a rehab center (not THAT kind) since she was in the hospital last week and the doctor wanted to be sure she was strong enough to go home. She's feeling pretty sick right now, but she was excited to see Rinnah for the first time. We visited with her for a little while this evening after the kids had a short nap.

Ian looking at the fish

From Shedd Aquarium

Riding the turtle

From Shedd Aquarium

Playing raccoons with Daddy

From Shedd Aquarium

He's eating me!

From Shedd Aquarium

Cookin' up something good

From Shedd Aquarium

Almost ready!

From Shedd Aquarium

Let me taste it...

From Shedd Aquarium

Paddling the boat

From Shedd Aquarium

Mom, can I keep 'em?

From Shedd Aquarium

Just like his daddy

From Shedd Aquarium

Brave or stupid?

My dad used to say that sometimes the difference between brave and stupid is determined by the outcome. I guess we'll know in a few days which is the case for us.

We're going to Chicago this weekend. Woohoo! We've been wanting to do the museums and such for awhile, and we wanted to go before the weather gets bad or we have to haul baby food for Rinnah. So we're going this weekend! I snagged a cheap hotel on Priceline that even has a kitchen, so food & lodging costs will be kept to a minimum. We're going to the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Kohl Children's Museum. Once we get there, I think Ian will LOVE the museums. And we're excited about that part too. It's just the car rides that we're worried about-4.5 hours to/from Chicago, plus 15-45 minutes to get from the hotel to each attraction. Our plan is to go first thing in the morning and stay until Ian is pooped, probably around 2-3:00. Then go back to the hotel for a nap and find easy entertainment for the rest of the evening, like going for a walk. Hopefully Rinnah will be her usual easygoing self.

Seat Check Saturday

Today was declared some sort of statewide child passenger safety day, so there were 93 checks held across Illinois. I helped at the one in Sprinfield. Ian spent the morning with Grandma Fox, and Jeremy and Rinnah came along to the check. Jeremy was able to help with directing traffic and passing out clipboards while Rinnah slept in the sling. I got to check seats. I really enjoyed it-I love educating people about carseats and it was great to do something other than just the mommy thing. It's the first check I've done since Rinnah was born.

I brought some seats that we've had at home from other checks hoping they could be used or go to someone else who does more checks than I do. I'm glad I did, because we had a 2 yr old boy with Down Syndrome come in. He was very close to 40 pounds, and came in with an old seat with twisty straps that he can wiggle out of. One of the seats I brought harnessed to 65 pounds, which he really needed. He's definitely not ready for a booster yet. It was great to see that seat going to good use to keep that sweet little boy safe.

This afternoon I finished painting Rinnah's room. Well, except for a little touchup that needs to be done on the ceiling. It's a pale pink, and on Monday we have some rose-colored carpet coming. We got brown curtains and I found some ribbon that matches the carpet, so my mom is going to sew that on the curtains as a little border to tie the room together. I think it will look nice.

We're also getting new carpet for the playroom. That will be great. Once those two rooms are done we'll have redone all the floors on the main floor of our house except for Ian's room (kept the hardwood) and sort of our room (we pulled up carpet and left the hardwood).

I even managed to get Ian's outgrown clothes consolidated into plastic storage bins and labeled with the sizes. It was a very productive day!

93 bottles of Robitussin on the wall, 93 bottles....

Ever wonder what 93 bottles of Robitussin would look like?

From Robitussin

From Robitussin

From Robitussin

We made a sweep of the Walgreens in Springfield on Saturday morning. Final total:

-90 bottles of Robitussin
-3 boxes of Kleenex
-5 bags of Robitussin cough drops
-25 votive candles
-toy ball for Ian
-toy boat for Ian
-6 packets of seeds
-2 Dove chocolate bars
-$300 in Shell gas cards
-countless funny looks from cashiers

All for $99.99, of which $50 was covered with prepaid visas from a previous Walgreens deal. And if I can come up with 5 addresses, I can even get $10 back in Robitussin rebates!

We'll be keeping a few bottles, giving a few bottles to family & friends, and donating the bulk to an orphanage in Romania.

A big thank you to Walgreens and Wyeth for teaming up to pay for gas for our car for the next few months!

Party!

Yesterday was Ian's birthday party!

It was a lot of fun! A few people couldn't make it because their kids weren't feeling well, but we still had a good turnout. The rain held off for awhile, it just sprinkled and had that threatening it-could-rain-at-any-moment look outside, so we were able to sit outdoors for awhile. When it did start raining we went inside and it was good that not everyone was able to come because we just wouldn't have had room for everyone.

We had a cookout (well, a cookin in the garage) and everyone brought side dishes. We were able to use some of the free hot dogs, cheese, & lemonade I got awhile back. We also made hamburgers and cake. It was a really good meal. I was hoping that we would be using up some food, but I think we actually have more food now than we started with because of the leftover side dishes.

The kids had a good time, and Ian really enjoyed playing with everyone. Some of the bigger kids were trying to show the toddlers how to play bocce ball, which was amusing. He was very excited about the new toys his friends gave him also-a toy drill that talks, a pig in a car that makes noise & drives when you shake it, and a toy dog that walks with a little remote control leash.

Here are some pictures from the party:

Some friends

From Ian's 2nd birthday

Eating at his outside table

From Ian's 2nd birthday

Uncle David, Grandma Fox, and Uncle Daniel

From Ian's 2nd birthday

Learning to play bocce ball

From Ian's 2nd birthday

Opening a gift

From Ian's 2nd birthday

I think he had fun. We sure did!

But I'm one of your best customers

There's an awesome deal at Walgreens this week. You can make $7 profit for every three bottles of Robitussin you buy with the right coupons. On Tuesday I went in and did this deal twice, and the manager followed me out and asked me not to buy anymore!

I have mixed feelings about this. I understand not wanting to run out, but the shelves are stocked full and bottles are stacked on top that won't fit. I offered to wait until Saturday or take a rain check for the sale price and come back next week-he turned me down on both. But he said he doesn't want to lose my business. *scratch head*

With that deal though, I think it's worth a trip to Springfield. We'll see what we can do tomorrow.

Monday

Ian had his first speech therapy appointment today. Right now, she's just playing with toys with him trying to get a feel for where he's at and build some trust with him. He had a blast today, especially with the bubbles. He kept signing "more, please" so she'd do them again. :)

We're working on Rinnah's room right now. We got carpet ordered. That was a fiasco, but it's done and we ended up with a good deal in the end. Now we're getting the room cleared out so we can start painting. The carpet should be in next week, so we don't have much time!

And Ian's birthday party is this weekend! It's so hard to believe he'll be two already. On Saturday we invited over all the little kids from church and their families. We're going to have a cookout and play some games in the yard. It should be a fun time.

Weekend

We had an awesome weekend with Laura. Didn't go anywhere terribly exciting, but we had a nice time catching up, sharing pictures, and playing with Ian. It was wonderful to have a visitor since it seems like it's gotten so difficult to leave the house for more than a five minute drive.

Things have been pretty busy getting ready for the benefit concert. My brother Michael had the idea to do an outdoor concert to raise money for leukemia research in honor of our dad, and we're also doing a silent auction. Mom has taken things on with her usual obsessive gusto, so she's been eating, sleeping, and breathing concert & auction prep for the last few weeks. I wish I could have been more help, but running all over town to talk to businesses about donations was just not in the cards for me with two kids in tow. And the things I have offered to help with she has wanted to stay in charge of. Oh well, I tried. Hopefully the benefit will go well.

We did order carpet today. We're going to fix up our office/guest room as Rinnah's room, and while we're at it we're recarpeting the playroom. Between getting lousy service and discovering that Lowe's would be cheaper, I managed to haggle several hundred dollars off our total at Home Depot. And of course I had a coupon. ;) So the end total wound up being almost $500 less than they originally were quoting us. Very exciting. We should be getting the carpet installed in a few weeks.

A visitor!

Laura, one of my best friends from college, is coming down for a visit tomorrow morning. I'm so excited!! I've been feeling sort of penned in lately since it's so hard to actually get out of the house. It will be wonderful to have a visitor come since we can't go to her!

Walgreens again!

This has been a great few weeks at Walgreens.

Today:

3 boxes of cereal
6 bottles of regular shampoo/conditioner
3 bottles of fancy shampoo/conditioner
1 bottle of Aveeno baby bath
4 dark chocolate candy bars
12 double rolls of toilet paper

Total before coupons: $69.46
Total after coupons: $33.60
Register rewards earned: $14
Rebate earned $32

And that's even with my store being picky on the order of coupons....I could have made an extra $10 otherwise.

Walgreens

Today at Walgreens:

5 John Frieda Shampoos
3 John Frieda Conditioners
24 pairs of socks for Ian
3 jars of peanut butter
8 Glade scented oil warmers with refills
1 jiggly light-up toy for Ian

Total before coupons & sales: $134.93
Total before coupons: $112.35
Total after coupons: $47.11
Register rewards spent: $14
Total out of pocket: $33.11

Register Rewards earned: $36
Rebate: $4

Net Total: $7.11

Nice weekend

We really had a nice weekend.

Ian magically transformed from a little terror to a sweet little boy on Saturday when Daddy was around all day. We got quite a few things done around the house and had a good time playing outside.

Saturday night Rinnah set a new sleeping record-9.5 hours before she wanted to eat!! She woke up once at 5 (she'd been down since 10) and I thought surely she wanted to eat. But she was just upset that she had wiggled her face into the corner of the cradle. As soon as I pulled her back, she quieted down and went right back to sleep for a few more hours. She's such a good sleeper. I can usually count on about 6 hours straight each night now. If only the same could be said of Ian...

Walgreens run

2 boxes of Fruity Cheerios
6 jars of spaghetti sauce
2 boxes of wipes
2 boxes of jr. maalox
1 bottle of fiber capsules
1 bottle of foundation
1 jiggly light-up toy for Ian
1 pack of wiffle balls

Total after tax & coupons: $4.66
Received $4 in register rewards for future purchases
Will receive $4.99 rebate

:)

Anybody want a little boy?

Ian got up an hour early today, which was obviously not a good thing. The day started out with him telling me about the crickets he could hear outside his window. Nice enough, until I tried to get him dressed or accomplish anything else. He screamed if I got him out of the crib, he screamed if I closed the window, he screamed if I left the room-basically if I did anything but listen to him babble about a cricket. Then there was the tantrum when he wanted licorice for breakfast (as a responsible mother, I of course said no). When I changed Rinnah's diaper, I returned to find that he had dumped an entire package of croutons on the kitchen floor and then stomped them into a million pieces. And he wailed all through lunch, not even eating because 1)the garbage truck had left. watching it is the highlight of his Wednesday. the driver even honks and waves now. and 2) we wouldn't let him have carrot cake for lunch.

Those are just the highlights and it's not even 1pm yet. Sigh.

For a good part of yesterday, the soundtrack to my life was the sound of a 23 month old screaming his way through a temper tantrum.

We're at that age, I guess. And getting a new little sister kind of exacerbated it. He's sweet to her, but everything else in his life is a little more dramatic now.

All morning I was trying to leave the house. We actually left at 10:40, and wouldn't have left then if it wasn't for the fact that mom needed my help with something. When she called back to say she was ready to go, Ian was laying on the floor screaming because I wouldn't give him a cookie, Rinnah was screaming because her tummy was upset, and I had spitup all over my shirt.

We're debating going to Chicago in October to do the science museum and Wheaton's Homecoming. Oh, it would be a long trip and we get tired thinking about it. But on days like today, I figure, if they're going to be crying anyway, why not be on the way to something fun and different? We'll have to see if we're brave enough to go for a few days without naptime though.

Girls' day out

I had my 6 week checkup in Springfield yesterday. Rinnah is obviously still to little to leave behind (I don't think I could anyway!) but the thought of taking both kids all the way to Springfield by myself was a bit scary. So I dropped Ian off with Grandma, then Jeremy picked him up for lunch & put him down for a nap. I think he had a lot more fun that way than he would have in the car anyway.

Since we weren't constrained by Ian's nap schedule then, after the appt. Rinnah and I went shopping! Well, Rinnah napped in the sling while I shopped. I went to Target and made two Walgreens stops. It was fun to walk around Target-it's been months since I was able to shop there. I found a carseat for Rinnah marked to half-price because it was missing the cupholder. Very exciting! Not the best carseat in the world, but for $35 it will make a great secondary seat. And I found swim trunks for Ian next year, and a croquet/bocce ball set, and some frozen fries for $.04 after coupons. It was a nice time.

Rinnah did really well too. I only had to pull over once.

Can you please do that every day?

Today was such an easy day. Rinnah napped, in her cradle no less, for 45 minutes this morning and 4 hours this afternoon. 4 hours! I actually woke her up when we were eating dinner so she could eat and have some awake time this evening. Crazy! But I got SO much done when it was like I only had one child again. It's funny-she seems so easy by herself, and Ian's not too bad when it's just him. But with them together, it's such a challenge to get any chores done because I have to stop Ian from hurting her in the process of loving on her. He's a sweetheart, but he's not even 2. And if he's not poking her, then he's creating some other mess for me. Sometimes I think I come out ahead by just keeping him from making any new disasters, even if I don't make improvements in any of the existing ones.

Wal-mart deal!!

The tally for today:

10 All You Magazines: $17.70
150 packets of Kool-aid: $30.04
10 bottles of salad dressing: FREE
10 boxes of Wheat Thins: FREE
10 packs of Kraft Singles cheese: FREE
10 packs of Oscar Meyer hot dogs: FREE
10 packages of Crystal Light drink mix: FREE

The cashier was quite amused. "Are you one of those people who gets lots of stuff for free with coupons? I've seen them on TV, but I've never checked one out before!"

It was almost like I was a little celebrity. And now we can have a hot dog & kool-aid fest for Ian's birthday party next month!

Yea for coupons!!

I love Walgreens!!

Here's my total so far for the week (I'm going back for more!)

8 boxes of Special K cereal bars
10 boxes of Nutrigrain bars
6 boxes of Special K cereal
3 boxes of Raisin Bran
1 box of Raisin Bran Crunch
2 boxes of Frosted Flakes
9 boxes of Poptarts
2 boxes of Rice Krispies Treats
4 boxes of Keebler Fudge Cookies

Total paid $82.04
Total register rewards $60 (can be used to buy anything at Walgreens)
Kellogg's rebate $20
Net out of pocket: $2.04!!

Plus I got 2 bottles of Glade Fabric & Air spray, 1 Garnier Nutrisse conditioner, a Pledge Aerosol spray, a pack of Pledge wipes, and a Pledge duster for free!

And that's why we don't leave the house...

We went to Springfield today, 30 minutes away, for Jeremy's birthday. And Rinnah screamed pretty much the entire way there. We actually stopped and I nursed her at one point-just enough to hold her over until we got to the restaurant-and she seemed happy when I put her back into the seat. But as soon as I closed the car door, she started wailing again. I guess it got to Ian, because he started up with this pathetic fake crying.....oh, it was terrible. I think we'll just stay home for the next month or so and then maybe I'll muster up the courage to try again.

New Beginnings

Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday. We would have loved to go to Springfield and eat out kid-free, but that's really not an option with a one-month-old. So we went to church, then had lunch at Mom Fox's house. Next came naptime (yea!) and choir practice, then we had a nice dinner of homemade hamburgers. Today we're going to Springfield with my mom, my brothers, and both kids in tow. Should be fun. Hopefully we make it home before any bedtime meltdowns.

Yesterday was also the first day of our new associate pastor/music minister/Sunday school teacher at church. Honestly, I'm excited. Our former music minister has a great opportunity at a bigger church, and our church has a chance at a fresh start. Jeremy and I have been so disappointed that even after attending faithfully for over two years, we don't feel close to anyone in the church. I think our Sunday school class has had about two activities during that time. It's hard to get to know anyone by just sitting next to them for 20 minutes a week. We were certainly willing to help get things going, and tried several times, but we're still pretty new parents and learning how to juggle all of that. We don't have the time or energy to be in charge of everything. The new teacher is very much a people person though so we're hopeful that with some quasi-regular activities we'll be able to connect with people better and really feel like a part of something at the church.

While I'm sitting here typing this, Ian has been trying to share his pancakes and cereal with Rinnah. Such a sweetie! He looks so disappointed when she doesn't just grab the pancake from his hand and chow down. I have a suspicion she will be trying solids before 6 months old, whether I like it or not, thanks to her partner in crime.

The Zoo!

No, not our house. :)

Today we went to Springfield. I snagged an awesome deal on an extension ladder last week. Unfortunately, we couldn't fit both the ladder and passengers in our car, so we had to wait until we could borrow a van.

So this morning we packed up the kids bright and early, and actually were leaving the house by 8:20am. (The goal was 8am.) I was impressed! We stopped by Lowe's and got the ladder (which took way longer than it should have. Apparently "Rob" is easily distracted.) and then headed to the zoo for a breastfeeding support walk. It was pretty fun-my babywearers group was there, and there were lots of little giveaways like a book for Ian and a nifty bandaid dispenser. Ian's favorite part was feeding the ducks, followed closely by the playground. I did get this pic which I really love-Jeremy's wearing a ring sling with Rinnah in it. I just played with some simple effects with one hand; I'm hoping to tweak it in Photoshop when I have some free time (ha ha).

After the walk we picked up some pictures we had taken a few weeks ago. That was exciting! We have some really cute kids! And they even behaved in the car for the ride home-Rinnah slept and Ian didn't, just what we wanted to not disrupt naptime. It was a good day out. Days like today encourage me that we might not have to stay in the house until all the kids are in gradeschool. :)