Swings

Loving us some swing action!

 

More mommy!

 

 

Please...

...they can feed themselves!

He's growing up

I feel as though its just a matter of time. He's pulling himself up on things, starting furniture walking, attempting to stand on his own, reaching between things while standing...

....its just a matter of time before he takes that first step.  Its happening so fast! You're only 8.5 months! Slow down little guy, slow down!

Annual Winter Emergency Visit

We had high hopes! But alas, it was not to be.

Today we made our annual winter season trip to the emergency room.
Those tongs up in picture one...the culprit. 

Why do they always end up wearing a new white shirt when they bleed? Who is this Murphy and how can I get my hands on him? Change the law Murphy. Change the law!

The traumatized appendage.

The not-so traumatized child.

Nice hospital bracelet buddy!

So not impressed having to show off his war wound.

The story: It was lunch time. I was getting Joel ready for nap when I heard Micah crying. I knew he was playing with the tongs and figured he got his finger stuck (yes, it happened before). This time, his index finger was stuck in a different place. Not in the hinge like I thought, but between those two pieces of metal. I pulled his finger out and the blood started to POUR. I grabbed a tissue and applied pressure. When it was clear that the blood wasn't slowing, I took a peek at it. Yep....this was gonna need stitches. He had ripped the pad of his finger pretty much off. Gross!

I called the doctor's office to check whether it was better to bring him in to them or to the ER (hey! I didn't know! And I would rather go to the doctor's office than the ER). The doctor's office offered to take a peek at it. I wrapped up Micah's finger in a rag and wrapped scotch tape around it to try and keep him from eating it. That lasted till we got in the van. I reapplied his bandage and off we went. The doctor took one peek at it and exclaimed, "Yikes! That's gross." Not exactly the most confidence inspiring statement. Off to the ER we went.

I called Gran Gran to come and help wrangle Joel. After my experience in the doctors office, I knew I would need a second pair of hands. (Let's just say, their sterilizing microwave thing ain't sterilized anymore and I'm really sorry about the liquid nitrogen)

 FOUR HOURS later.....we finally get outta that place. We spent two hours waiting for the triage nurse to take a peek at it. Another hour waiting to be called to the back where we would see the doctor and another 45 minutes before the doctor actually came to look at it. The doctor gave me two options.
#1. Put Micah under a general anesthetic. We would have to wait 4-6 hours to do this since I had fed Micah while we were waiting. OR
#2. A local anesthetic. Swaddle Micah in a blanket, put a needle in his finger, and listen to him scream while he got stitches IF he would lie still enough to do that.
I'll take option two thanks! Needless to say, Micah did great. He didn't like being on his back or being swaddled. But as soon as they had stitched him up and let him out of the cocoon, he stopped crying. What a trouper!

He got two stitches in his finger to hold the big flap of skin down. Then they put glue over all of that to hold the rest of it down. Then the nurses were trying to decide how to bandage him. I offered my "expert" opinion from our experience with Joel when he was 15 days old in the hospital with an infected finger. My idea won out!

So, for the next few days we'll have to keep his finger dry and bandaged. Then in a week, we'll go to our doctor and get the stitches removed. That boy is amazing. You could barely even tell that he hurt himself (no tears, except when it happened and with the doc). Now we have to start antibiotics again to prevent infection (fingers are prone to infection!). Yuck!

Oh the life of a mother and her boys! So, they may not be born in a hospital, but they sure like visiting them?!?! Boys! That's a BAD habit to have!
 

Flashback: THE Pajamas

These are THE infamous pajamas. When I put them on Micah, I was filled with emotion.

 Back when Joel was 9.5 months old, we had just gotten back from Camp Squeah with the church, and Joel was wearing these pajamas. It was that evening that our lives changed.  You see, it was that evening that Joel learnt to walk. And not just one step....no no! That's not his style. He started walking all the way across the room!!! These pajamas remind me of those first steps.

But they also remind me of something else. The next morning, (yes, the one after Joel started walking) we found out that we were pregnant with the little one who is now wearing those pajamas. We've come full circle. From finding out we were pregnant to now having that fetus (turned baby) wearing the pajamas just filled me with emotions. I'm happy, I'm sad. I'm scared (please don't walk yet little buddy...I'm just not ready!) Its good and bad. Its pajamas.


.............Which are now covered in blueberry puke. Thanks for adding your own little memory little buddy.

Grocery Challenge: Week 3

Cumulative Weekly Total: $69.91
Trip 1: $25.49
Trip 2: $27.56
Total Amount Spent: $53.05
Leftover: $16.87

Last week was hard. We ran out of veggies on Monday!!!! Yikes! We had to wait until Thursday (supposed to be Friday, but I didn't have time to shop on Friday so it was bumped up a day) for our next weeks money, so it was really tough. But we did manage to eat fairly well using leftovers AND we manage to feed our friends!!

I did two separate trips this past week. For trip one, I went to Ralph's farm market in Langley. My goal was to always shop at Pricesmart, but I knew that my entire budget would be eaten up with produce if I did that. I mean, we had not a veggie in this house....not even carrots! So while in Langley, I stocked up on the necessities! Ralph's is CHEAP!! I got ten green peppers (on the discount rack) for under $2. The carrots were on cheap. A five pound bag for $2 (and yes I got two!) Joel eats them like candy. Same with the apples. Finding apples for under a dollar a pound is difficult, but I managed to get them for 59 cents a pound!!!! YIPPEE!!! That was basically my saving grace this week.

My second trip was to Pricesmart for the necessities like baking powder and eggs. The cake was a gift for Dan for Valentines Day. Okay, it was "Happy Thursday" gift to him in lieu of V-Day.

We have quite a bit of money leftover this week. But I must admit that I was waiting until Thursdays flyers to decide how to spend the leftover and next week's money (aka. choosing to spend based on sales). We are out of quite a few things and my grocery list is growing. This is the last week of our challenge and I have already realized that $60 a week is NOT sustainable. Its sometimes those little things that add up quickly. You know: BBQ sauce, peanut butter, oil, raisins. Those things have been dropped this month in favour of other things like milk, cheese, meat, eggs and produce. We have enjoyed this challenge and are hoping that it will help us stay on budget in the future. There is already talks about bumping it up to $100 a week for March and seeing where that takes us. But there still needs to be discussion about what to do about our growing shopping list. I don't know how much longer Joel can last without his peanut butter fix!

On your toes

Joel was in trouble the other day and was crawling his way towards "the bench." (The bench is our place for a time out). Crawling his way there was another way to slow the process of discipline. So Dan told him, "On your toes!" This is what he did. He "walked" his way towards the bench, climbed on, served his time and made his mom and dad laugh at his antics. So creative!

 

Grocery Challenge: Week 2

Cumulative Weekly Budget: $69.56
Amount Spent: $59.65
Leftover: $9.91

I feel as though I did really well this week. I used my "oops I'm missing a square of margarine from my just opened Parkay margarine box" coupon to obtain the free popcorn. Save myself almost nine dollars. I price matched the strawberries with another grocery's flyer as a special treat this week. I found chickpeas in the bulk bin that just need to be rehydrated....over a cup of them for just 36 cents. If that works out well I may never buy canned chickpeas again (saving myself $1 or more per can).

This week we are using up the ham bone in our freezer by making white bean soup (normally I would do pea soup, but we still have some pea soup in the freezer). 

I actually only spent $40. But then I remembered that I forgot sour cream. So I went back to get it, and did some quick calculations. I knew that I could afford to buy the ingredients for lasagna (something that I have been craving, and would love to use up the frozen spinach in our freezer in it).
So, I purchased the ingredients. Don't worry! I know it cost a lot, but we will probably be sharing that meal with friends. (Chris, Katrina..how about lasagna for Valentine's Day?)

Oh, did I mention that we are still keeping up with our hospitality on $60 a week? Yep! Every Thursday, we share a meal with our care group. We do share the responsibility, but it does mean that we will cook for 3 more individuals at least once a week.
Last Friday, we hosted a lovely couple, their gorgeous baby and their brother(in-law). We did a bake-a-thon together and split the tasty treats. Four different types of cookies, a batch of muffins and a meal were split among the families.
This past Sunday, we had a potluck with the Barkman's Missionary Support Team.
And on Tuesday, we hosted a pancake dinner in honour of Pancake Tuesday for a few of our friends.
Somehow we manage to feed our friends (and friends of friends) on a smaller budget. This just adds to the complexity of the challenge. We have to find meals that are healthy and tasty that we can feed a large group with for a small amount of money. I am proud to say, we are doing it.

Another week down, and we are now half way through our challenge. I'm a bit fearful that next week will be more challenging. We are almost out of chicken (a staple in our house), we ran out of carrots and various other veggies. Next week may be a tight week. Hopefully Pricesmart has their veggies on cheap and chicken on sale! (one can hope right?)

V-Day

In honor of Valentines Day, here are a few reasons why I love my hubby

He lets me sleep till 8am every morning. Even if that means he gets up at 5:30am with the boys.
He empties the dishwasher and cleans the bathroom-two jobs that I loathe
He works hard to keep a roof over our head and food in our bellies
He can rough-house with the boys and manages to (rarely) hurt them
He knows random useless things that somehow come in handy
He is passionate about history and knows all about wars, guns and tanks
He can cook. There ain't nothing better than a Dan in the kitchen
He is faithful.
He is rarely angry. When he is upset, he talks through it.
He is super patient. So much so that it makes me sick sometimes! I wish I had just an ounce of his patience.
He always says "I Love you" before leaving for work and before falling asleep that comes complete with a kiss.
He still holds my hand when we walk (when there are no children holding it)
He loves the boys.
He has a big butt...and I love big butts (and I cannot lie). Ha Ha.
He encourages me to meet new people (and bring them cookies!) even though that's hard for me.
He loves to give.
He loves to read. He can read all the time and is instilling that behaviour in the boys.
He handled my great pregnant whipping cream debacle with ease.
He changes diapers, even the poopy ones.
He can find that special tickle spot on the boys that makes them giggle with glee.
He watches girly movies with me.
He'll try so hard to listen to me late at night when he's tired, and will even "snore" his answers.
We're on the same page about how to raise our boys, being crazy crunchy hippie type people and preserving food.
He hates Valentines Day.

That is why I love my hubby (among other things!)

The great parental dilemma

Fold laundry or curl up in warm clothes and nap????

NAP!

Fog

Taken at the Fort to Fort in Langley

A beautiful walk in the park on a foggy day

Joel loves the horses

Momma's Shoes

I told Joel to get his shoes on. Instead of getting HIS shoes on---

He put on mine!

Black and White

Something about a picture in black and white that just makes it beautiful.
Love the look of Micah up on his tip toes.

A classic Micah face....those lips out.

Oh Joel!

Cheese!

Whattsa matter Moo?

Just needed a snuggle-that's all.

Grocery Challenge: Week 1

Amount spent: $50.44
Leftover cash (for next week): $9.56

Lessons from the week: I didn't think I was an impulse shopper but apparently I am. But oddly enough, its in the fruit and veggie department. As I was walking through the store, I found myself wanting to buy cauliflower to go with our broccoli, avocado to go with falafels/wraps for the week and mangoes to eat. But since we have this budget, I wasn't able to be impulsive.

I was proud that I stayed under budget and that we ate healthy meals this week. I wasn't proud to spend what I did on vegetables. I am trying to continue with my regular habits of shopping only at Pricesmart (and not hopping around to other stores). But I might have to change that. Veggies were EXPENSIVE this week. I haven't spent that much on veggies in a LONG time. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I spend over $4 on broccoli and probably another $3 on lettuce. (dang storm on the East Coast). It was bad. But we have a meal plan, that included a dangerous craving for falafels/wraps.

Yes, we make a meal plan. And yes, it is too difficult for me to change it while I'm in the store shopping and realizing the expense that the veggies are causing me. Normally, the veggies aren't that much...but I guess I caught them on a bad week. The plus side is that the tomatoes were 68 cents a pound (score!).

My other confession is that I spend $17 on Advil and gripe water for Micah. I decided to not keep that in my monthly challenge since that would consist of 1/3 of my weekly budget. Plus, with the amount of sickness going around, I have a feeling that we will be purchasing more this month. And any parent knows that stuff is PRICEY! Hopefully this will be my only exception this month.

All in all, I feel as though this challenge is going well. I look forward to Fridays when our new week begins. Hopefully we will make it to the next week without spending anything else!