Remembering the hard times...

My amiga, Danielle, suggested I keep the following email excerpt around to remind me of the hard child-raising experiences...you know, for when I forget how hard it is (which will happen should the Lord tarry long enough). I wrote this last night around 8:30pm:

Nate's been FUUUUUUSSSSSYYYYYY all afternoon. I think he's teething - got the slobber and gnawing on his fists like crazy. I gave him Tylenol about 90 minutes ago so he's trying to sleep now. But the little dude literally keeps throwing himself over so he can sleep on his side. It's kinda funny.
the other kids went to bed but they're still awake. About 45 minutes ago they both got up and pooped - jeremiah in the toilet and beka in her potty - at the same time in the same bathroom. They're tight like that. lol

I'm so tired I'm starting to not see straight. I think it's time to hit the hay.

This month in pictures

As the month of March draws to a close, I thought I'd share a few pictures that were taken.


Bathtime for the big kids...taken today.

This sneaky girl got into my pantry and stole a box of cake flour. She probably thought it was going to be soooooo tasty since the box had a picture of a chocolate cake. How disappointing it must have been for her.


This kid LOVES to take pictures - especially of himself.

The big kids played dress up with Nate. Poor Nate.

My baby is now four months old.


Oh and since my camera and computer are finally on speaking terms, here's the pics of the clutter I told you all about in my last post. Let me preface these horrific pictures with this: steps have been made to improve the spaces shown. While I have not touched about half of it, the half that has been touched has been decluttered to the best of my 3-kids-under-five ability. Thank you very much.

Microwave area

Dining room table

Kitchen sink

Kitchen table


The post-its I told you about from a year ago; faithfully reminding me to get on the ball!!!

front entry way


obviously the couch

front room - it's set up for Nate's nebulizer treatments...that he hasn't had in about a week now. Jeez, I need to clean this up!


entertainment area - why there's a ton of stuff on top, I have no idea???


this is the dining room but since ain't no way I'm letting the family eat on top of carpet, it has become the toy room. ugh.

Fly Lady - take two...or is it 'take 3'...I'm losing count...

Oh an Irisher washwoman hasn't an equal
She rubs a bit, scrubs a bit than other people
She jigs a bit, sings a bit all the day long
And her heart's like a shamrock; it sings a gay song.

I live in clutter.

I HATE clutter.

Therefore, I am not a happy, peaceful mommy...and my poor hubby knows this all too well.

I just can't seem to stay on top of it, and the laundry, and the cleaning. I'm seriously spinning out of control. AHHHHHHHHH!

Remember back when I was doing the fly lady here? I got all the way to day 15 (almost halfway through the month). Then I got pregnant and there went all my energy. And the clutter crept back in.

I need routine. Without it I'm lost. So back to the fly lady and routine.

Although I'm not going to start out with all those days again. Here's my plan:

Every morning I'll get up and get dressed (not to the shoes..I know I'm breaking that cardinal rule but I know myself. I'll be ok.) then I'll work on the morning routine I set up last March. I still have the sticky notes on my kitchen wall to remind me what to do (see, I told you I've got clutter everywhere...stuff that hasn't been touched in over a year! I've got something wrong with me.)

It may take me all day to finish the routine since I'll only have tidbits of time here and there to get it done, but I can't live like this anymore.

I actually took pics of all my clutter: kitchen table, sink and counters (uh ya pretty much every counter in my kitchen), dining room table, kids toy area aka dining room, on top of the tv, next to the rocking chair, the couch, the phone area, the area in front of one of the bookshelves, an entirely separate bookshelf, the trash area in the den (can you even imagine a trash AREA?!?) ...but for some reason my computer isn't recognizing my camera so I can't show you the pics. Let's just say it's wayyyyyyy worse than any of your 'worst before pics'. It's positively shameful! I think I'm 2 degrees away from being a hoarder.

So although I do not enjoy cleaning, I think I'm at a point in my life where I'd rather feel like an Irisher Washwoman than how I feel today.

My Vons Visit

I love the feeling I get when I see the final grocery bill! This morning, bright and early...even with the time change, I went to Vons. It was just me and the stocking crew. Loved it! And when I saw the final bill I was so excited!

Oh and I think I have a coupon angel! When I was in the cereal isle I picked up 3 boxes of Kellogg's Corn Flakes thinking I was going to pay about 66 cents/box. But then the guy stocking the shelves came over and put $1 peelie on each of my corn flakes boxes, telling me I'd get them for just about free now! HOLLA! I know they're just corn flakes, but if you put enough Splenda on them they taste just like frosted flakes. :)

I know my pic is cruddy. I couldn't find my camera (stinkin' kids) so I took the pic with my cell phone.

So here's my list of what I bought:
6 boxes of fruit snacks
2 bottles of apple juice
1 box granola bars
7 boxes of cinnamon toast crunch
1 box honey nut cheerios
1 bag of nut clusters
1 box of crackers
1 box oat square cereal
3 boxes of corn flakes
20 yogurts
pampers
bread
2 packages of deli meat
2 lb bag of frozen cooked shrimp
apples
red bell peppers
asparagus
bagged spinach
2 bags of broccoli and cauliflower
2 bottles of ranch
mushrooms

Total spent: 43.01
total saved: $111.37 Holy mole, spicy guacamole...how crazy is that!!!!!

So can I just say THANK YOU to Kerri! Thanks for doing the hard work for me, showing me what to buy and where to find the savings.

Is spring here yet?

I went to Rite Aid today to pick up prescriptions for 4 out of 5 of us. Thank God for insurance is all I have to say. Those 5 prescriptions only cost us $25. So let's see:

I still have a sore throat so I got a different antibiotic and something that numbs my throat when I gargle with it. Hopefully I'll be back to the gym on Monday. Fingers crossed.

Last week when I picked up my hubby's med's they gave him a partial order so they had to reorder more of whatever he's on, so I picked that up today.


This is a picture of Jeremiah, the only member of the family that's healthy.




Beka has the beginnings of an ear infection so they gave me antibiotics. Huh? Kinda over-kill I think. I had it filled but I'm going to hold off on administering it to her since she doesn't have a fever and her ears don't hurt.


Nate woke up this morning with light green/yellowish goop in one of his eyes. My hubby has an eye infection so I took Nate in just in case. And once again the dr prescribed eye drops to clear it up. Well Beka had green goop in her eye a couple of weeks ago, not to mention it was red, and it cleared up on its own. So I'm going to hold off on dropping meds in my 3 month's old eye until it gets worse.

Seriously, why is my pediatrician so preventative? Did I mention one of the pediatricians got onto me for not putting Desitin on Nate's butt even though there was no rash. I was changing him when she walked in and said to use Desitin or Buttpaste. I asked why? She playfully hit me and asked me if I was going to wait until it got red and hurt him. I was thinking, uh ya, that was my plan. But instead I caved and put a little Desitin on his butt.

I like the doctors in the office but it's getting a little ridiculous.

Anyways, I'll be glad when this winter is over. None of us has had the flu, which is a good thing since none of us had any kind of flu shot. I'd never hear the end of that decision if we got the flu. I know of 2 people who told me to make sure the family had their flu shots. I prayed about it and didn't hear God tell me to do it so I didn't. I don't know, there's something about the flu shots I don't like. But if God ever tells me to get them I will. He just hasn't told me that, yet.

Spring is coming. A new season. A welcomed change.

Back in the saddle again

I'm on week 3 of weight watchers. Let me just say that day 2 of weight watchers I was considering staying fat. If you think about it there are perks to being fat: get to eat what you want when you want, they do make some cute clothes now for the plus size woman, you don't have to think about eating healthy or getting in all those servings of fruits and veggies.
But alas, the 80% of me that wanted to be thin won out and I have persevered.

My silly self forgot to take a good 'before' pic so listed in the sidebar is pic #2. Remember, every 10 pounds lost will result in a new pic being posted in the sidebar. (Remember this, Dani!) I do have a before pic where I was sitting on the couch but I cannot post that until I lose at least 20 more pounds. Isn't it funny how I don't mind showing you my fatness as long as it's not my current fatness. Well this before pic shows rolls so when they go away, I'll post the pic.

Walgreens

Ok, first let me brag on how awesome God is! It seems like when I get low on something, an awesome sale pops up. This has happened a few times. I choose to give credit to God and thank Him for the blessings!

I was really low on floss...well not anymore!

I bought:


4 pkgs of Reach floss (for 60 cents total, not each!)
Jif peanut butter and Smuckers jelly (for $3, my splurge)
2 Finish dishwasher detergents (free for both)
4 pkgs of Stayfree pads ($1 total, not each!)
tube of Colgate toothpaste for $1.25
Reynolds foil for 80 cents
Revlon eye shadow for free
3 cans Hunts tomato sauce for 18 cents, not each
2 folders for 40 cents, not each

The rest was tax which brings my total to...

$10.11

Praise the LORD!!! (and thank you, save at home mommy for teaching me how to do this.)