This week...

Composter arrived on Tues! YEA!

I got it started with some newspaper shreds, carrots, spinach, grass and a banana. We've been adding our coffee grounds also. I'm going to take a picture of it every so many days so we can watch it compost. Exciting, huh?


Can we ever get enough of Katie sleeping?
Doesn't she look peaceful?

It hasn't been like this the last few days. It took us awhile to figure it out. We were wondering if maybe there was gluten or dairy in her abx or maybe I missed it on the label of her new snacks. I want to kick myself for not thinking this one through, but we had used Aveeno wash and lotion on her the last few nights. Oats are always considered to be contaminated with gluten and it was obviously bothering her. She was even starting to get some funny bumps on her face and arms. I feel like I should have "Bad Mommy" stamped on my forehead. Last night went better, but tonight doesn't appear to be panning out to well. Hopefully this passes sooner than later.

My sister in law, Carrie, sent some card supplies to me that arrived this week. I really enjoy making cards, but Carrie has way better supplies than me. She sends me all the goods and I put them together. We're kind of trading off here because I'm using my couponing skills to score her bunches of stuff (like all that Johnson's that my kids can't use) and she keeps me stocked in cards.



It seems I have diastasis recti. Not something I'm happy about, at all. I'm going to try physical therapy first, but I might be SOL until I'm done having kids and can get myself a tummy tuck when they'll sew the abs back together.

Katie is weighing in the morning and Kelton has kindergarten screening in the afternoon. Kindergarten round up was a few weeks ago and I was a bit traumatized. I seem to have some unfounded fear about sending him, although I know he'll do great. He's trying to read everything he sees, sounding out the words. He's ready and excited, but I know there will be some tears shed the first day of school and they won't be his.

What a weekend!

Friday it was just to windy to even think about pushing over 100lbs of stroller around the neighborhood, so I strapped Katie on instead. She loves riding like this, especially when we chase Kelton.



Even with impending weather, the boys headed to KC for the Nascar Truck Race. They only saw around 50 laps before the rain started and tornado sirens went off. A tornado did actually touch down close by and they saw the damage as they were leaving. We were bummed that the race was suspended, but very thankful that they were able to stay safe.



Katie and I took advantage of the boys being gone and spent a little girl time with Mimi. We did some shopping! We got an awesome deal on sunscreen at BRU. (Using coupons, of course!) While we were there, we picked up a couple more of that weird sippy that Katie loves and found a new allergy safe snack. I limited myself to one outfit. Seriously, we just had to have this one.



My mom scored this one at a JC Penney's sale on Friday.



We also hit up Yankee Candle. I had a giftcard that Eric's brother's family had given me for xmas and it's been burning a hole in my pocket! I snagged a Baby Powder scented candle, which was quite the find as they're hardly ever in stores. Katie behaved so well and loved smelling all the candles with me just like Kelton always does when he accompanies me to Yankee.

Right around the corner was Coldstone, so we stopped in. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I began craving a Gotta Have It made from strawberry ice cream with chocolate chips, strawberries, and graham cracker mixed in. Alas, Katie was born, I went diary free and have yet to savor this yummy concoction. Someday though, it will be mine! So for now, Katie and I settled for raspberry sorbet with coconut mixed it. It was pretty yummy, although I could have done without the nasty look the lady gave me when I asked her to mix it in a separate container to avoid cross contamination.

Didn't do much Sunday besides some cleaning and laundry. We even stayed home from church because the weather looked so yucky. There were several tornado warnings in the area, but none close enough to have our sirens go off. We watched this wall cloud go right by, commenting on how it looked pretty suspicious, just a couple minutes later a tornado warning was issued.




I attempted to walk last night during a break in the rain, only to have it start pouring when I was on the other side of the neighborhood. I'm using that as an excuse not to walk tonight as it looks like it could rain anytime.

Forecast for the rest of the week is wet and stormy too. It's that time of year. Gotta love Kansas.

Katie is a country song!

Aren't we quite the hillbillies? Three different songs just off the top of my head have lyrics that fit her perfectly.

He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Layin’ there in bed listenin’
To his new born baby cry

She's got my nose, she's got her mama's eyes
My brand new baby girl
She's a miracle

Gave their children grandmothers maiden name

Today was weigh day for Katie and as expected she lost some weight. She hasn't been eating very well due to the infection, so I'm not really worried. She lost 8.5oz, which puts us at 17lbs 13oz. Since we had a loss, we'll weigh again next week instead of 2wks. It does look like she's almost 28.5in, which means she's growing! This still puts us just at or below 5% on the growth charts, but hopefully when we finally kick this infection, we'll be moving on up a bit! She may always be small, but consistent growth is what I want to see.

The company that makes the coconut milk that Katie drinks is having a giveaway. You can enter once per person and the prize is five 1/2 gallons of the milk. I sent an email out earlier in the week asking everyone to enter because this stuff is $6 a half gallon, so it gets expensive for us. So if you missed the email, please enter!

Eric made a quick run to Kohl's last night for a #3 bunny, both of hers were yucky with sickness and the bun bun has become a necessity. Totally awesome that bunny was free since I had a $10 certificate that came in the mail!



Made some great food finds this past week. Kinnikinnick Foods has some really yummy bread and snickerdoodle cookies. Nature's Path makes a line of products called envirokidz and the majority of the selection is dairy and gluten free! Van's Blueberry Waffles are another of Katie's favorites.

The boys are headed to Kansas City this weekend with some friends to watch the Nascar Truck Race. Kristen and I are staying home with the babies (she has a little guy 6mo and 1 day younger than Katie) while the hubbies and older boys have fun at the speedway. Unfortunately, Kyle Busch will be in Talladega instead of KC, but Kelton wasn't too upset. He's a pretty big Nascar fan in general. He loves to ride in the Jimmie Johnson car cart at Lowe's. Katie likes it too.




There's still time to sponsor Jaime in the March for Babies. She's walking for her sweet little Molly and is almost to her goal. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could help her go above and beyond that?! Let's support the dream that one day, all babies will be born healthy!

Finally, if you're not praying for Stellan, hit your knees people. His mother's faith inspires me.

Earth Day!!

Whew! For some reason, I was exhausted Tue night. I didn't exercise or pump, I just slathered on some sleep lotion, sipped some sleepytime tea and was asleep in a matter of minutes, just shortly after 9pm when I'm usually up until at least 11pm!

Aaaaand, Katie's mystery fever is back. It was 102.6 this morning. Fevers normally don't bother me at all. Kelton has always ran high and obviously Katie does also. This one is pretty dang persistent though, so I called and took her in to her ped. It took some effort, but we managed to get some urine to check for a UTI because everything else looked good. Her temp spiked up to over 104 this afternoon and when I called to let them know, they had just gotten the results back and it is indeed a UTI. Poor baby. The fever is a mystery no more. I'm bummed about having to put her on abx this young, but hopefully it'll be awhile before she'll need another.

I got Katie a new sippy at Target the other day using some of my overage after coupons. It's pretty odd looking, but she loves it.


Although I'm sure we have much to improve on, we try hard to "live green" everyday, not just on Earth Day.

We recycle our plastic, glass, aluminum, newspapers, magazines and cardboard.



My Mother's Day gift, a composter should be delivered in about a week.

We've switched the majority of our light bulbs to energy saving compact fluorescent bulbs.




Most of the time we use reusable water bottles.


Only bpa free, of course!






I try really hard to remember my reusable grocery bags when I'm out shopping and if I don't, I recycle the plastic ones. I have several different ones. The one from Kohls is really big and sturdy, but my chico bag tucks away in my purse really well.

We're super excited about our garden. The boys have been working really hard on it! Our niece, Layla, has been over helping with it also.



Kelton and I planted a few flowers today while Katie was napping. I had originally planned on letting her in on the fun, but she wasn't quite feeling up to it.






We did still manage to get our walk in. These two are a load to push, let me tell you. I absolutely love this stroller,, it's super versatile!


And finally, remember the gymbo dress and tights I got a great price on? Well, Katie compliments them very well! This lady is 14mo old today. One of our nieces is exactly 10mo younger than Katie, so she is 4mo today!


Good thing I'm rested from Tue night because it's midnight here and Katie is still up. I think it's going to be a looong night.

shop 'till you drop

My buddy Lisa and I gathered our gymbucks and coupons and headed out for a little shopping on Thursday evening.

Eric really wanted this adorable ladybug dress for Katie Bug last time we were at the store, but they didn't have her size. They had since received another shipment, so I snatched up the last 6-12mo with matching curlies to boot!



Target is always fun. I mean, who doesn't love Target? I wasn't thinking and didn't get any fillers, so I had $2.25 of coupons left that I couldn't use. Bummer!
Subtotal was .26, after tax .97


Walmart goes so much faster without kids! Made a big switch awhile back with our peanut butter. If you haven't read the ingredients on your jar lately, you should! We'll dedicate a blog to that at a later date.
Subtotal was $3.06, after tax $4.63


Dillons was the best I have done with my coupons to date! Couldn't have gotten any lower than this! The apple cinnamon Quakes are safe for Katie and I'm so glad I held off buying more until now!
Subtotal was .05, after tax .89


I have so much fun with my coupons and searching out deals. It makes me feel better about having to spend $12/gallon on Katie's milk. Not to mention the outrageous cost of her medication.

We've been enjoying some nicer weather lately, so we've been going on walks and playing outside more. One of our favorite activities, sidewalk chalk!









Washing all the chalk off.



If you haven't done so yet, please consider sponsoring Jaime as she walks in the March for Babies to honor her tiny babe, Molly. Hopefully someday all babies will be born healthy, but it won't happen without your help!

March for Babies needs you!!

I have been so blessed to have uneventful fullterm pregnancies that result in big healthy babies. Unfortunately, many other women experience something drastically different.

In 2006, 1 in 8 babies were born preterm in the United States. The March of Dimes is on a mission to change this statistic, but they need your help.

March for Babies is a fundraiser dedicated to this cause...that one day all babies will be born full term and healthy.

This cause is particularly close to the hearts of The McFarland Family. Their precious Molly was born at just 26wks. Jaime is participating in this walk to honor Molly and in the hopes that someday no family will have to deal with the pain and struggles they continue to endure.




Please support Jaime and the March of Dimes in this walk to help make the dream a reality, that

One Day All Babies Will Be Born Healthy!

Here's how it works:

Click on the March for Babies banner to purchase your tickets. Type in your amount and click on donate. Tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10. Best of all your tickets are tax deductible (we can all appreciate that). Be sure to fill in all of the fields when paying/donating so that you're able to be reached in a timely fashion. You can purchase as many tickets as you like - Remember it's for a great cause!

The drawing will be held on April 26, 2009. The winner will be chosen by www.random.org and screen shots of the results will be posted so that everyone can see them. The winner will be contacted and their wii bundle sent out to them right away!

Now for the prize info:

Wii Console with Wii Sports game

Wii Fit & balance board game system

Wii Mario Kart game with 2 wheels

Wii Play game with remote

Valued at more than $470

All of this shipped directly to your door!

A Big THANK YOU to our wonderful sponsor who donated these awesome Wii items!

Easter

Poor Katie Bug's fever really held on, peaking at 105.5. It was down on Saturday, but jumped up to 103.5 again that night. It finally fizzled out Sunday evening. She'll have to wear her dress to church this weekend instead.

Since she was feeling okay most of Saturday, we visited the Easter Bunny. Although Kelton is never scared, I thought Katie would be. She was a bit apprehensive at first, but that soon turned to intrigue. We got a great picture!


Despite not feeling very well on Sunday, Katie actually had a good time with the eggs and all the gifts that Nana, Mimi and Aunt Sarah brought over. The ever-eager Kelton was more than happy to show her the ropes.


The Easter Bunny brought her a ladybug purse that she really likes toting around. He also brought her some crayons that she had absolutely no interest in. Mr. Bunny was also careful to bring only safe treats for Katie to enjoy such as cotton candy, peeps, dairy/gluten free rice cripsy treats and she even had a splash of chocolate soy in her sippy of coconut milk!


Kelton got a Kyle Busch and the movie Pinochio, which he has been wanting forever! After we got Kyle out of the pkg, Kelton disappeared downstairs and came back up with the #18 car and put Kyle on top of it, like he'd just won the race. The Easter Bunny brought Kelton a few of his favorite treats as well.. M&Ms, craisins, and yogurt covered raisins.


My huge brag is actually Easter dinner. Not including the potatoes that my mom brought, it cost me less than $5 to feed 6 adults and 3 children. Here's the breakdown.

Spiral Ham - Free. Eric gets one every year at xmas from work.
3 Cans Green Beans - .50
Bag of Cole Slaw Shreds - .69
Dressing for Cole Slaw - .08
2 Tubes Cresent Rolls - $2
Spice Cake Mix - .30
Small Bag of Carrots - .25
Can of Vanilla Frosting - .99

And lastly, my gymbo order arrived today.
I hadn't planned on making this order, but when we saw this adorable yellow dress and tights on Savannah, I knew we must own it as well. Katie was also in need of a few dresses in smaller sizes since I bought her 12-18mo dresses for spring/summer and they're pretty much huge on her. Awesome that I snagged this dress for $6.39 and the tights for $3.59!

{get REAL} Time

This week:: What has been consuming YOUR TIME this week!
What have you been up to?

This morning keeping me busy is a vomiting 5yr old and a 1yr old with a 102 temp! But we've had a lot more going on that's way more fun!

Last Friday when I had Katie weighed, she had gained 6oz and grown almost an inch! We think it's just taken awhile for her system to recover from the damage the wheat was causing. Her appetite has also increased and she's still sleeping relatively well. We've decided to keep her totally gluten free for the time being since we're seeing such positive results from it.

Kelton loves to feed Katie and jumps at any chance we give him.

In that picture you can see how long his hair was getting. We thought it was really cute but for some reason I had it cut last week. Aunt Sarah buzzed it off for him and while he loves it, Eric and I are mourning it a bit. Definitely going to grow it out again starting now!

Eric and I finally got a chance to drink our anniversary bottle of champagne. We always save the corks. We had a relaxing evening and watched Because I Said So that night also. Cute movie!











One night after dinner I put chocolate frosting and marshmallow cream on graham crackers as a little treat. Oh my goodness, it was yummy. Since Katie has her own gluten free grahams, she got to try some also.

She also tasted ice cream and chicken nuggets this week. We've been able to find all of these dairy and gluten free for her. It takes some searching and it's not cheap, but it's worth it for our Bugs. Plus I make up for it by saving tons on our regular groceries with my coupons.

Katie still prefers Daddy to do her baths and has so much fun with him. In this picture you can only see her bottom two teeth, but we're finally get some more. All four top ones..at the same time! That's not so much fun!

As hard as I tried, I couldn't get Kelton to attach to a security item. In the end, it was nice that we didn't have to keep track of something. I haven't really pushed it with Katie, but it looks like she's becoming quite fond of her bunny. I knew she'd been cuddling it at night and now she's wanting to hold it when she's nursing and cart it around with her some during the day. It's so cute to see her snuggle it!

I would love to have a picture of her sleeping in her crib all snuggled up and cozy, but there is no way I would risk waking her up. One night on the video monitor we saw that she had fallen asleep holding onto the crib railing. I wanted a picture so badly, so I cracked opend the door, stuck the camera in and zoomed as far as I could.


We're hoping to get some warmer (and less windy) weather here soon so we can enjoy playing outside. Both kids love being outside. Hopeful this is our last run with the plague for awhile too. Cross your fingers!