Playground and my doggy dilemma

He's growing up so fast!

Sitting like a big kid at the top of the slide

Joel's trying to find the dog.
Begin rant now. He's terrified of this dang dog. Its a "nice" dog. But Joel screams when he sees it. I'm super annoyed that the gentleman lets his dog off the leash when clearly its a "leash-on" park. I usually ask him to put the dog back on a leash, but sometimes when other kids are there its hard. Especially when the other children get such joy from throwing the dog's ball. Its a dilemma for sure. Do I force the man to follow the rules so MY kid can enjoy himself, or do I let it slide, hear Joel scream in terror and see the other children's enjoyment? In reality, this gentleman shouldn't put me in this position. So what happened? Today, I let it slide. Until the dog cornered Joel, forcing him to let out the most agonizing scream of fear and I yelled at the man to call off his dog. (which he does in whisper..so annoying!) Then I asked him to put his dog on the leash since the dog kept running around the playground and Joel was clinging to me like his life depended on it! Finally the man left with his dog. But seriously every time we are at the park he is there with his dog running around. What is a mom to do? End rant now.

Climbing UP the slide. Wrong way buddy!

I don't want to go home!!!!

Grocery Challenge: Week 4

Cumulative Weekly Total: $76.87
Trip 1: $ 26.97
Trip 2: $44.98
Total amount Spent: $71.95
Amount Leftover: $5.00

This week we had to make some tough decisions about what to buy. We are out of A LOT of things. We are out of chocolate chips, whole wheat flour, and toothpaste (I found some samples that will tie us over). We are almost out of laundry soap, tea bags, Joel's crackers etc. I basically had to make decisions about what we can live without for a week.

 

I did buy a box of chicken (pictured under the milk) since we were out and it was on sale. And apples since Joel eats them like candy. Peanut Butter is a staple in Joel's life (and there was a buy one, get one free).

 

This is the final week of our challenge. It is NOT sustainable to spend only $60 a week on groceries. Not with prices the way they are. I've learnt a few things though.

#1. We eat A LOT of cheese. Grilled cheese is a staple in my life. Cheese chunks in Joel's. I think we go though a block and a half a week on average. Yikes! Good thing we always buy it on sale. But we should probably cut back.

#2. I am in impulse shopper. For things that we need (or things that we normally have on hand). I impulsively buy fruit and veggies. Fruit usually isn't a problem, but quite often veggies go to waste. This month, our vegetable food waste has been non-existent. Why spend money on things we are going to waste?

#3. We can easily eat weekly meals for $60 a month. But we cannot keep up with "the extras" at that pace. Kleenex, toilet paper, laundry soap, medicine would be too much for us. I must admit that I have spent A TON of meds this month. At least $60 this month on medicine for the family (okay, and another $21 on Tylenol for the kids....I stocked up since it was $3 a bottle. STEAL!) That would add another $15-20 a week if that was a part of our budget.

#4. Forcing ourselves to be conscience of what we have as leftovers helped us eat through our freezer as well as eat the leftovers in the fridge. We only wasted a pancake this month. That's it. Normally our food waste is a bit more.

#5. You can still eat good meals and feed your friends for $60. We had 8-10 extra meals this month that were shared with friends. Which, in and of itself is an eye opener. Our food budget is quite often high because it is a part of our entertainment and giving budget. We tithe in calories. That's right. Be blessed our friends and wear your weight proudly! (oh Dan! you crack me up!)

 

I'm sure there are more, but I am too tired to think of any more. Its been a good challenge. I've wanted to cheat (especially this last week). But we have done it. We are proud. And we are glad to be able to have a bit more to spend. Perhaps we'll do it again. But maybe once we have flour in our house! But for now, its back to the regular budget (or maybe less, we'll see!).

Good-bye challenge! Hello FOOD!

 

 

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?)