Incentive

I love Us Weekly magazine. I started reading it in college and got a subscription shortly after we got married. It was much more costly than other magazine subscriptions since it comes weekly, so after two wonderful years of reading I tried to save us money and decided I could do without. We had just been through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace and I decided that it definitely wasn't a necessity. I found myself getting in the longest line at Wal-Mart just so I could read my favorite sections. John would bring them home randomly if I had a bad day, and they always appeared in my stocking for Christmas.
Today all three of us made the trip to Publix for our weekly groceries. We had just done our budget for September and found that we majorly overspent in the grocery department for August. The middle of the week trips to pick up a "few items" did us in. We try to only spend $100 on groceries a week. Now, we are really trying to not go out except for a dinner and lunch on the weekends, so that means more groceries need to be bought while still trying to stay at our weekly $100. We got all we needed for the week and were in line paying when I spotted it. Kendra and Kourtney on the cover, telling all about their pregnancies. I know it is silly but I LOVE that magazine! It was then that John decided to make a game out of our weekly grocery store visits...he made a deal with me. Each week when we checked out at the grocery store, if we stayed under $100 including tax, then I could buy Us Weekly. Talk about incentive!! As soon as he told me this, I glanced at our items on the belt to see if we could do without any :) There weren't any so I nervously watched as she rang everything up. Garbage bags. Cereal. Rotisserie Chicken. Frozen Pizza. These were some big ticket items. Low and behold we were just under (and I'm talking cents) $100 so I got to take home my magazine!!! And we even got Ice Cream!!! I asked him what happened on the weeks when we needed to buy diapers, knowing there was no way I could buy diapers and enough food for us to last the week and STILL be under $100. He replied that I would just have to tighten up and be clutch. Oh how proud Dave Ramsey would be!!

This is what sick looks like...

Isn't he still precious even when he doesn't feel good! This is what we did most of the day. He has never laid like this before, but yesterday he snuggled up against my leg and let me rub on his back for a very long time. Sweet little buddy. I feel so bad for him. We think he just has a little cold. He has been congested with a runny nose and coughing just a little. I called the pediatrician and she said there was nothing we could do, unless he had an ear infection. We are going to see how he did today and then decide if we should take him to get his ears checked. For now, we have the humidifier plugged up and I am ready for more snuggling when I get home from work today!

"Sew" Much Fun!

A friend from high school posted on Facebook that she might be interested in teaching a beginner's sewing class and wanted to see if there were any takers. There ended up being several of us, so she arranged for us to meet last Sunday and this Sunday for 3 hours. She picked the pattern and told us what supplies we would need. I borrowed my mom's sewing machine. I have been wanting to try and learn to sew for a while, and I figured this would be a good time to see if I really liked it enough to ask for a sewing machine of my own. This was the first time I have ever touched a sewing machine/pattern. And the only time I have touched fabric was to buy to give to my mom to make something :) Thankfully she picked a pattern that was not all that complicated. The pattern is Holly/Hunter. The Hunter is similar to a John John. I picked pale blue cordoroy and a pale blue and chocolate check for the lining.

I am quite pleased with the result considering I had never done this before and the fact that I had some major speed bumps along the way...I tried to not pin a part of it so I could get to the next step. I ended up having to take that entire seam out and in the middle of taking the seam out, ripped the cordoroy and had to cut a completely new front piece and re-sew it on. That was frustrating!! All that is left is the snap tape that goes in the crotch area and the buttons/button holes. I am going to get those finished up this week hopefully. I can't wait to see it on Will.

The girl doing the class told me she would monogram Will's initials on it if I wanted her to. I told her I really wanted to get "My mom made this" monogrammed to the front of it, simply because I couldn't believe I actually did. I will say that I can now go in The Lili Pad and spend understand why some of those outfits cost what they do, now that I actually know what all goes into it (however I am sure it is much easier for companies with machines that whip those bad boys out quick!) For those of you whose mom made your clothes when you are little-THANK THEM. It certainly is a labor of love. I enjoyed the sewing part-even though I am not very good. It was the tracing/pinning/cutting part that I got tired of. I will show you the finished product, hopefully on my model once it is done.

And here is a sneak at what we bought this weekend....

Kid in a Candy Store

That would be my husband this morning. Except he isn't a kid, he is 26, and he isn't in a candy store, he is headed to Auburn. John's alarm went off at 5:45 this morning. For those of you that don't know, every morning we wake up to the Pat Dye Tribute. John can record sounds on his phone, so he played the You Tube video of the Pat Dye Tribute and all the fans cheering, and set that as his alarm. This morning was no different...Pat Dye Spoke, Fans cheered. But instead of John hitting the snooze and dreading going to work, he hopped right out of bed and into the shower. When I saw him again he had on his orange under armour Auburn game day shirt and was ready to go (6:15 am). I got up and made biscuits and he was out the door before 7. He wasn't going to go and leave me behind for the day with Will. But I told him to go, knowing how incredibly happy it would make him. It is amazing how excited he gets about anything related to Auburn. Today he has good reason for his excitement...he gets to attend a CLOSED scrimmage with his buddy, Al, and then since Al is a member of Tigers Unlimited and has seats in the donors boxes, he invited John to attend a lunch after the scrimmage where the coaches talk. John is beside himself. Especially since this year there is a whole new coaching staff. It has been killing John that we don't live there anymore-he felt like he was more "in the know" about what was going on when we were in close proximity. So thank you Al, you made John's day! (And month for that matter!!)
As for me, the little man is napping and as soon as he gets up, we are going shopping! We are headed to Monkey Toes to try and find him some shoes. John is not too keen that I still take him to church with no shoes on.

Squeaky Clean

Bathtime is Will's favorite thing these days. This is always done with Daddy! This is just about the only time I get to myself all day and I covet these 25 minutes or so, even if it is spent sterilizing or doing laundry. However, it looks like I am missing out on some fun! Will has discovered the running water and loves to run his hands through it. He even stuck his face in it last night. Tonight I peeked in to see him playing with his keys and his floating rubber monkey!

Day at the Park

Today as soon as I got home from work, John and I headed to the park with Will. This was his first time going where he was actually big enough to swing and enjoy it. Going back to work has still been ROUGH on me. This was the perfect way to spend some time with my family on a work day!! The weather was perfect. It was about to rain, so it was very windy (notice hair below)!!

He looks so grown up in the last 2 pictures!

*No clue why the quality of my pictures is so bad today on the blog. On my camera and computer they are clear....I've tried uploading them several times, but Im tired and going to bed, so these will have to do.

SEVEN

Will's seven month birthday came and went without even being recognized on the blog. I guess this goes to show you how incredibly insane this past week was leaving me exhausted! The start of school and all that comes with it left me with such little spare time that I chose to spend it with Will and then sleep rather than blog. But I am back. I have had 2 naps today-I am on Will's schedule :) - and I feel much better!

Will was 7 months on Thursday...

He changes every day and is so much fun to play with. He sits up like a champ now and has learned how to balance himself if he starts to fall over. Bathtime is so much easier too now that he can sit up. Each morning when I go in to get him up as soon as he hears the door open, his head pops up and a huge grin spreads across his face. He is definitely a morning person! We still haven't found anything he won't eat...other than peas...he still shudders. He has learned to fake cough. If you cough at him, he coughs right back. He can sort of wave bye-bye. He holds his hand up more like a high five and usually the other hand is the one he opens and closes his fingers with. It is hysterical. Each hand does a little bit of the work. He still takes a morning and afternoon nap and is sleeping from 7:30-7. We are so spoiled! He loves being in his exersaucer or jumperoo. He favors his right foot. He jumps primarily on his right foot and his left foot just kind of hits the ground each time. He has 2 teeth right next to each other on the bottom in the middle. He smiles all the time and you can see those cute little teeth! Bentley is still hilarious to Will and he smiles and belly laughs every time he is around. He loves to be read to-his favorite books are The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss, Any of the Froggy books, and The Napping House. The reason these are his favorites is because John does an awesome job with noises and different voices. This has become our bedtime routine-bath, books, bottle, then bed! His favorite toy is a plastic bag. We do not give him these, but when he gets his hands on them he thinks they are the greatest things ever. Then we take them away and he throws such a fit! We are probably in for it down the road with tantrums. This is all we can think of about our sweet little boy! He has blessed us more than we ever imagined! It seems he has been a part of our family far longer than seven months.

Say It Isn't So!

This is what Will did when I went in to get him up this morning. I had my camera with me because I was about to pack it to take to school, so I snapped some shots of him. This looks like he is saying, "AAAAAH Don't go Mommy!!!!" or "AAAAAHH It couldn't be time to get up." Either way I thought it was hysterical and definitely gave me a laugh before my first day of school with kids. I.am.exhausted! There are no other words. I saw my child a combined total of one hour today. So incredibly sad! But I know all days won't be this way-just right at the beginning. Today we had open house so that is why I was hardly home. I came in just in time for Will to go to bed. John had him bathed and they were reading Brown Bear when I walked in. Such a precious sight. I gave him his bottle and rocked him to sleep which I never do. I just wanted to cuddle up with him for a few minutes. Okay, I rocked him for almost an hour. I just wanted to make sure he knew I was there. It felt easier for some reason going back in March after being on maternity leave. Maybe it was because he didn't do anything but sleep. His personality hadn't really come out yet. Now he is so fun and smiles and laughs and plays all the time so it is hard knowing that a majority of his day is spent without me. John tried to make me feel better by reminding me that he sleep from 9-11 and again from 1-3 so he is asleep about half of the time I am gone. I am off to bed. Is it the weekend yet?

Busy

We have been a whole lotta busy this past week. I returned to work Thursday. The students don't start until Tuesday, but I have been non-stop in meetings and working in my classroom both Thursday and Friday. It is funny how you can feel summer coming to a close, and have a mental list of all the things you need to get done while you are still on "summer vacation" and then out of no where you wake up one morning and it is time to go back and nothing in your mental list is checked off. At least on mine anyways. Going back to work after being home all summer with Will was not as hard as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I really missed our mornings together because he is such a snuggler then...but no tears were shed. And I do realize how lucky I am to have a job that even allows me to spend the summer with him. It is funny how getting back into a routine, decorating a room, buying new "teacher stuff," and preparing for a new batch of kids excites me. I was dreading Thursday, however now that I am in the swing of things, I am excited about the school year. Not quite used to getting up so early though. This past week I got up when John did (5am) to try and get myself used to it. Last night I was asleep at 8:30. John woke me up to pump and then I went right back to sleep!

We entered into unchartered territory with Will this week. As you know Will got his first tooth on Tuesday. Bless his heart, he hates Orajel so we can't really use that. We have been giving him Infant Tylenol but it really has taken a toll on him. I think it hurts him the worst in the late afternoon. And he fights his morning nap, which is something he has never done. We never had to really let Will cry it out when he was an infant. Those words are definitely a part of our vocabulary now. I laid Will down at his normal nap time-he had been rubbing his eyes and was clearly ready to go down. Now that we have lowered his mattress, he can see us walk out of the room and has started pitching a fit. I think it is a combo of him being tired and his teeth hurting. This morning he cried it out hard for about 20 minutes. When John went to check on him a little later, this is what he found...

If you look closely you can see a little hand gripping on to the bumper. I guess he was so frustrated while crying that he was trying to pull himself up (case in point why we lowered his mattress this week). But this picture was taken with him out cold. I guess he just gave up and gave in to the nap :)
On a sad note, we think our Bumbo days are over. Last night Will escaped the Bumbo. He wanted a toy that was just a little too far out of his reach. John and I were both on the couch watching him when all of a sudden he just turned and squirmed out. He just leans over the side and uses his foot to lift him out of there. At least he is now sitting up fairly well on his own. Now that we have to put that up, I have a feeling crawling is just on the horizon.

We have a TOOTH!!!

Can you believe it?? After many attempts to try to capture it on camera, this was my best shot. It is right in the middle on the bottom and very sharp! It just broke through the gum this morning. Will was drooling much more than normal and tugging on his left ear. I knew both of these were symptoms of teething and I figured it had to be any day now so I rubbed his bottom gum and sure enough, one had popped up. He has been his normal self all day so I am hoping this is a sign that maybe this whole teething thing won't be so bad :) It is probably too early to make such a bold statement. In a way, discovering the tooth made me sad. He is getting so big, so fast!

Bounce

This video is for Holly P. I just had to show her how much Will LOVES this bouncer. It is TONS better than the one we bought for him...much more springy!!
We went to Troy on Saturday for Owen's first birthday party. He was of course precious and we loved getting to visit with them. After the party we went back to Holly and Dax's house so we could feed Will and get his pj's on since we would put him straight to bed when we got home. They had this bouncey toy in their den and so we put Will in it to entertain him until time for him to eat. It was hysterical. They said that Owen didn't use it anymore so they let us bring it home with us for Will to borrow until they need it again! Will is most grateful :) Here are a few more pictures...so sad that we don't get to see this sweet family more often!