Special Happy Birthday

A very special little boy turns three years old today! Happy Birthday!

Man, I Love This Kid!

If I could only get the red eye to work, doesn't she look just like a little doll in this picture?


I've mentioned before that I think Regan (and Regan thinks Regan) is pretty funny. She has one of the greatest senses of humor I've ever seen in a two year old. Tonight, she demonstrated how funny she thought she was as she cracked herself up over how clever she was dressing in mommy's clothes. She was going potty and sometimes she can be there for quite a while (if you know what I mean!). I was talking on the phone and pacing around when I walked into the bathroom and this is what I found:a> She had to have the flip flops show up in the picture!

Rear view
She had dressed herself in my clothes and kept laughing and laughing and laughing. Coo Big, I funny (Too big, I"m funny), over and over again. She is so hilarious sometimes it makes me laugh. She had to have it exact, with the shirt tucked in and my flip flops on. And don't worry, those stains are just paint as that is my painting shirt that she found. She always has some kind of get up on and now instead of being naked, insists on getting dressed. Unfortunately, she wants to pick out her outfits and she really comes up with some doozies!

Doesn't everyone wear their bathing suit over their pajamas?

Remembering 9/11

9/11/01 is like one of those days etched in your memory forever. I was working my first year as a PT in the school district and school had only been in session for a couple of weeks. I remember one of the teachers running into the therapy room telling us to turn on the t.v. It seemed unreal, like some kind of horrid joke. I ran the kids back to class and all of the schools immediately went on lockdown. Parents were rushing to the school to yank their kids out, but it wasn't allowed. No one in and no one out. President Bush was about an hour away in Sarasota speaking at one of the elementary schools. Remember his face when he heard the news? He could have been a professional poker player.

In April of 2002 I was in New York visiting the city with a boyfriend. We went to see Ground Zero. It was absolutely eerie. To imagine the horrors was unreal. I never saw the Twin Towers, but I'll always remember seeing Ground Zero. An awful scene still visible in all that destruction.

Co Sleeping?

Our second sleeping experiment.
Finally, some sleep! Wasn't she so little back then?!?!
Isn't this precious?!?!
The gratuitous, baby with her rump in the air sleeping photo.

I just read a whole blog and comments regarding co-sleeping and the pros and cons. It's kind of funny to me that there is such hub bub about the whole thing. I must confess though, I was originally very anti-co sleeping (before I was a mom!). When Regan first came home I tried everything to get her to sleep in her crib....or at the very least in her own room. The first three days I tried the crib. She learned to climb out of the crib and became very self abusive when she was in there (to the point you couldn't reason or consule her, she just wasn't "in" her body anymore if you know what I mean) she would bang her head and scratch herself bloody. We then tried sleeping on the floor in her room. Better, but still not great. Finally, we spent a month sleeping together in the hospital. The hospital staff was great about the fact that Regan would not do well in a crib and even though it was against hospital policy, they didn't make a big deal about switching out the crib and moving in a big bed. I just signed a waiver saying I wouldn't sue if she fell out or got hurt in any way. Seeing as how she was sedated and/or hooked up to her central line most of the time, she wasn't moving so much during that time. The two of us sleeping in the hospital bed also had the added bonus of freeing up the only chair in the room (in ICU) so that my mom also spent the night. Again, only one adult was supposed to spend the night, but they allowed my mom to "visit" over night. The hospital staff in ICU was awesome.

After we came home from the hospital, I was just glad to get sleep. In anyway possible. I always say that the silver lining of the hospital stay was that we were a team when we came home. After a month of sleeping together in the hospital I knew there was no way to go back to trying to get her to sleep on her own. My only rule is that she has to be able to go to sleep by herself. I won't go in and lay with her in order to get her to sleep. This rule was implemented after with trial and error I would try to lay day with her to go to sleep. I then realized I was spending several hours each day (nap and nighttime) laying as still as possible trying not to fall asleep myself! When it took longer and longer for Regan to fall asleep because she thought it was playtime, I initiated the mommy doesn't lay down with you rule. My other rationale in deciding to co-sleep is the fact that I am such a deep sleeper (used to be, not so much anymore, but when I"m tired, a train could run through my room and I would be undisturbed). I was very scared that she would wake up in the middle of the night and be scared, get into something harmful, or hurt herself and that I wouldn't wake up to hear her. Especially in the first several months being home when we were getting a tops of 4 hours of sleep at night. When I finally got to sleep, I slept hard! Her bedroom is clear across the house and although our house is not big by any standards, it was still a ways away.

Although we stumbled into co-sleeping, I truly do think it helped to cement our relationship. She knew I was there for her and during a time when she would have night terrors and be inconsolable, I was always there. Now, I love looking over and seeing her sweet little face. I think it is an amazing thing to experience and feel that I would be missing out on a great bonding time if we didn't sleep together. Of course I"m fortunate that I don't have a significant other that adds to the equation when contemplating co-sleeping.

My philosophy is that we won't be sleeping with me until she goes off to college. Eventually, when she is ready, she'll want to sleep on her own and that will be just fine. It is just funny to me that it is such a hot topic in the parenting world. I have learned that different things work for different families. As long as it isn't harmful or enabling, then do what is right for your family situation. Obviously, it isn't right for every family and that's okay. At this moment, it is right for our family.

Happy 7th Birthday Konnor and Being a Coupon Geek

This might be a long post, so I apologize in advance!

September 3rd was Konnor's 7th Birthday! He really wanted a birthday party with all of his friends, but his birthday is so early in the year that it is always difficult for us to get it together. This year, we are going to try to host an "It's Not My Birthday Party" later in the year so that he can party with all of his friends. To celebrate on the actual day, he picked going to Outback for dinner. He didn't like his meal, but loved that they sang to him!

On Saturday, he, his daddy, and Ronald McDonald went fishing at the McFlats Fishing Tournament. He went last year and had a great time! After the tournament, he had a Wii program at the library. We then ate Chinese at the local buffet (his choice again) and went to see the movie Wall E. Regan liked Wall E, but wasn't behaving very well which is because she didn't have time for a nap. Konnor loved the movie. The adults all thought that it was boring. We got the message and it was a good message, but I wasn't thrilled. Especially since I trying to keep a non-napped 2 year old quiet! We came home and he opened gifts, his real splurge was an electric scooter given to him from my mom. He was so excited. I bought him some Ben 10 stuff and a skateboard ramp for his new manual skateboard. Let's hope I'm not blogging about broken bones in the near future! His mother hasn't seen him in almost two weeks and his grandmother (who lives in town) hasn't seen him in almost a year. This afternoon, they took him for pizza. We were worried they weren't going to acknowledge him at all. My brother has picked some real winners in the women department ;).

On a money saving note, about a month ago I became a coupon geek. I admit it. In an attempt to save more money while shopping, I look at a couple blogs that post deals from the week's newspaper fliers, clip coupons, and keep up with my coupon binder. It is bulky and I look like a dork, but when I am saving a ton of money when I shop, I get over feeling dorky real quick. The binder is filled with baseball card holders that I purchased at Wal Mart. Using them allows me to quickly look at all my coupons instead of the little coupon holders where you have to pull out and juggle all the coupons while shopping with a 2 year old (not fun). To demonstrate the money I've saved, here are some of my deals the past week.

CVS -

Revlon lipstick free after using my card and getting $5.99 in Extra Care Bucks

Chex Mix - free after $1 coupon

Box of Malt o Meal Cereal - free after $1 coupon

L'Oreal Face wash - free after extra care bucks

Aussie Shampoo - 50 cents a bottle after extra care bucks and coupon

Crest Toothpaste - free after $2 in extra care bucks and a $1 coupon

Wal Mart -

Airborne - made $1.50 after buying two on clearance for $1.25 each and I had two 2 dollar off coupons.

Walgreens -

Crest Mouthwash - I made 75 cents on the deal. It was free when you got back $4.99 in Register Rewards and I had a 75 cent coupon.

Pampers pull ups - 89 cents after it was on clearance for $3.14 and I had a $2.50 coupon. Regan still needs these for nap and nighttime.

Publix -

Friday's Potato skins - 19 cents after $3 coupon

Kotex tampons - 48 cents a box after using Buy One Get One and 2 $1 coupons

Silk Soy Milk 1/2 gallon - 54 cents after $2.25 coupon (I don't like soy milk, but Regan doesn't know the difference!)

Target -

Desitin for 75 cents after stacking a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon.

Prego spaghetti sauce - 50 cents. Was on sale and had coupon.

These are just some examples. With coupons, you just have to make sure not to buy just because you have a coupon and to only buy what you need, can give away, or can store easily. In the Cape Life newspaper, they have the previous week's coupon inserts. So, you can get coupons for free. There are also many websites you can print off coupons. Publix accepts competitor coupons and allows you to use one store coupon with one manufacturer's coupon. Target also lets you stack store coupons with manufacturer's coupons. I actually emailed the company that makes my saline solution because I missed a mail in rebate thing. They sent me a coupon for free saline solution. It is 10 dollars a bottle (it is the only thing that works for me!). Ten dollar savings just like that! It is one area of my life where I am completely organized and I make a list and just hit the stores when I have a free 15 minutes or so (Target, CVS, etc). Publix I usually shop once a week. It is time consuming to use coupons and takes organization, but it is well worth it to me when I am saving so much money. I also set up a binder for my mom and I am the designated coupon organizer for us both. The bonus: My mom got her binder on clearance at CVS for $1.27!

I need to start tracking how much I have saved, but a guess would be that this month alone I have saved about $75 dollars. Yeah!!!