Travels & Christmas

A special, four generation photo

I have much to update on my blog. I'll give a rundown and upload a few pictures while I have some time.

Taeya and I made a quick trip to CA to spend some time with family from Dec. 13-21. It was a short-notice type trip but it was good and I got to meet my newest, beautiful little niece, Hannah, for the first time. Taeya and I flew back on the 21st and I then unpacked, did a lot of laundry and repacked for a Christmas trip to VA. Our whole little family flew to VA on Christmas Eve where we arrived at 11:00pm. I couldn't blog about this trip previously because Phil's grandparents didn't know we were coming to VA and we wanted to surprise them on Christmas morning. Although the surprise was almost given away a number of times over the past 2 months, we managed to surprise them with Taeya sitting in the living room floor when they walked in. It was so much fun and such a blessing to be with family for Christmas. This was Phil's and my 5th Christmas together since being married and our first celebrating with family.

Except for the stomache flu going around, we've had a WONDERFUL trip here spending quality time with family. (Everyone's gotten the flu except for Phil, Taeya, myself and Phil's mom). We're praying that we don't get it!

Taeya and her Uncle Timmy. She crawled right over to him and just sat with him for a little while.


Great-grandma & grandpa were both so surprised to see Taeya, Phil and I on Christmas morning.

Waving to all her blog readers.

Timmy was so sick on Christmas that he opened his presents after all of us...while laying down on the couch. Poor kid.

A special moment shared with Grandpa.

Our first family Christmas photo.

Taeya enjoyed making friends with Bruiser. He wasn't to sure about her at first but after she started sharing her food with him, he's warmed up to her quite a bit.

Taeya, Grandma and Megan

Phil's sister, Sarah

Redding Trip

I just got back from visiting my family in CA. I visited my parents in Redding, along with my sister, nieces and aunt. I took a few pics on my camera but Sarah's was more available during the trip so most of the Redding pictures are on her camera. She just posted a blog with some pictures so if you'd like to see some recent pics from our trip, just jump over to Sarah's blog. http://mothersarah.blogspot.com/2008/12/megan-taeya-aunt-jennifer-bekah-hannah.html

PS. I can't believe Taeya is turning ONE in four days!!! aaaggghhh!

Blog Break

Taeya tormenting Puma. Notice Puma's not-so-happy face? She tolerates Taeya for a few seconds before she moves to a safer spot.

Taeya chillin' in the doctor's office---again. She's been there way too much lately.

Taeya and her family visitor, Wendy. As you can see, she enjoys hanging out with Wendy.

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm taking a bit of a blogging break. For the next month I may blog once or twice or not at all. Much is going on in my life right now.

By mid-January, I plan to start blogging fairly regularly again. Just thought I'd let my faithful few know so you don't wonder where I'm at. :) If I have a chance, I'll try to post a little within the next month.

I can't believe that my darling baby is turning 1 year old in just two weeks. Where has the time gone? She's changed so much and yet it seems like she can't be almost one! She is now signing "all done" and waving both "hi" and "goodbye" very frequently. She also makes some simple sounds that tell me "yes, more, mama and dada." It's so very sweet to watch and hear.

Charity Raffle

If you'd like a chance at winning a pretty cool raffle prize and would like to donate to some great charaties...go here. This really cool blog is giving away a Canon Digital Rebel XSi prize package and donating all of the raffle proceeds to three worthy charaties.

Thanks

Thanks everyone for your reader comments on my last post.

I'm thinking maybe I should clarify that my house doesn't stink...at least I don't think it does. I am not trying to cover-up any smell just give my house a light, pleasant smell when someone walks in. It just doesn't have a special, good smell unless I'm baking (which I do a lot but the smell disappears so quickly).

I DO use a diaper genie (which smells even when there's just a few diapers in it) and Phil and I keep the litterbox very clean because our cat poops on the carpet if it's not cleaned daily. Oh, and I bought a new litter last time just to try something different and Phil actually told me "Wow, that litter smells great!" It was the Arm & Hammer Odor Alert I believe and although I laughed when he told me that, it does smell good without a "masking the odor" type smell.

Anyways, thanks for all the suggestions. I'll have to look into wallflowers. They sound interesting and I don't know what they are. Thanks also for the specific smell suggestions that you enjoy.

Reader Survey!

Between poopy baby diapers and a cat litter box in our home, the aroma of my home isn't always the sweetest. I'd like to purchase some kind of air freshener that will help my home smell great when I walk in the front door or am home all day. I always have trouble picking out good smells at the store. It gets overwhelming and by the time I get home, they don't smell as good as I thought they would. I don't like frilly, flowery or overpowering scents. Just something that will provide a pleasant smell when I enter my home. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't usually light candles so I'm looking for something that I can set out, plug into a light switch and forget about it for awhile. Let me know what YOU like and why. Thanks!

Thanksgiving

Taeya and her fanclub

On Thanksgiving, our little family was very blessed to be able to spend the day with our Pastor's family. They have a large family of 10 and also had 2 other guests. We had a wonderful time fellowshiping, eating, and playing games. Their three youngest girls are Taeya's biggest fans. I have many pictures of the girls playing with Taeya and entertaining her. Taeya loves these girls and even when she was grumpy from lack of sleep, she would go to their arms. I appreciate this family so much and their love for our family...especially Taeya.

Dina reading to Taeya

Playing with Bethy and Annie

Dinner prep

Proud and walking

Thankful

I am so very thankful to be a wife and a mother. I love my husband and my daughter so very much and I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with them. Last Thanksgiving, I was excited about becoming a mother and meeting my precious little one (and feeling very large and tired). This Thanksgiving, I am blessed to be able to celebrate with my little 11 month old girl.

This happy girl wore her "Grandpa Rules" shirt in honor of her Pop-pop Karl's birthday. It was awhile ago but I never managed to post the pictures. Here she's trying to say, "Happy Birthday Pop-pop!" (Her chin's usually that shiny these days due to the waterfall pouring from her little mouth. Unless of course, she's managed to get close enough to wipe it on my shirt).

Taeya already had her first driving lesson. She did pretty well although she's a bit short to reach the petals.

Do I look "in control" or what??

Waving to her faithful fans.

What Happens...

This is what happens when you have a tiny, peanut baby girl who is 10 1/2 months old wearing 3/6 month pants. Yes, I said these pants are supposed to fit 3/6 month olds!!!Hey, at least she's learning how to undress herself already! hahaha I have found that these pants stay up a bit better if she's wearing a onsie rather than a shirt that doesn't tuck into the pants.

This is what happens when my baby girl feeds herself lasagna. She definitely enjoyed it and I had the forethought to take her clothes off before she ate it. Now she's just wondering why she's in the tub without any water. Isn't she just soooo cute??!?! Can you believe she'll be 11 months old tomorrow!!! (Wednesday?)

What Happens...

This is what happens when Mommy has been very sick since last night and is feeling dehydrated.

Note:
The intent look on Taeya's face as she watches her Praise Baby DVD.
The bowl on the couch for Mommy to use.
The blanket on the couch that is now being used by Mommy to attempt to relax as she watches her sweet 11 mo old.

Naptime, come quickly.

Grocery Bill Update

Well, I've been using Couponmom.com for a couple weeks now. Thanks Michaela for recommending it. It has helped me SO MUCH with my grocery shopping. In the past few trips I have made I have SAVED: 59%, 44%, 39%, & 53% of my bill. I am finding it so easy to use and am able to get the best deal between my local grocery store and Wal-Mart because I can see many of the comparison prices between stores. Because I've had questions about how I know how much I'm saving, I can only tell how much I save when I go to the grocery store because it prints it on my receipt. Wal-Mart doesn't list my savings other than the actual coupons of course.

One of blogs I've been reading mentioned that the mom only buys meat under $2.00/lb. I was wondering if I could do that as well. Although I don't think I'll say that I won't buy anything over that price, that is the price I have been aiming for. Since waiting for the deals, I've found boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.88/lb and chicken thighs on sale for $0.99/lb. I also got a turkey for $7.00...that breaks down to $0.64 cents/lb! Oh, and I found sausage for $1.50/lb. So, I've been successful so far. I've yet to find steak for my goal price but I'm still looking for at least a good sale.

I'm amazed at how many things I buy on a regular basis that I can find coupons for. I don't buy a huge amount of premade foods like store bought cookies, chips, cookie dough, pie crusts etc. It always seemed like those were the items I could find tons of coupons for and I didn't think there would be many that I'd use. However, I'm finding coupons for yeast (I bake a lot), sugar, mayonnaise, yogurt, cleaning products, and so much more! Between that and looking to buy items I need that are also on sale, it's really helped me cut down on my grocery bill.

Have any of my readers been working on cutting their grocery costs? If so, how's it going? Any tips, advice, suggestions?

My Sweet Baby

I'm realizing that I need to call Taeya my baby as much as I can because soon she won't be a baby any longer. She is growing SO much each and every day. She's now 10 1/2 months and she's waving, saying "dada", crusing, crawling, standing up in her crib, following me around, "reading" books to herself, picking up the little flaps in some of her baby books. Where is the time going? She's such a joy to be around and such an incredibly sweet girl. She cruised on over to Puma and tried to pet her. Puma would have none of it but enjoyed staying just out of arms reach. Puma curled up when she realized Taeya couldn't reach her.

I just love this little girl. Look at those precious tiny hands and feet.

Mesmerized by the world outside. She loves looking out the window.

Taeya was reading one of my favorite books from my childhood. I found it at a thrift store and of course bought it for my little girl.

I love this profile picture. If you look closely, you can see a drop of drool resting on her little lip

Big Blue Eyes

Check out Taeya's little crossed legs. She still loves her jump-up. I had to raise it higher today because she's gotten taller and heavier the past few weeks. In this picture, she's working on trying to get to the items on top of the bookshelf.

I love to jump!!!

Although her nose has nearly stopped running, her mouth sure hasn't. The kids' a drooling machine! and a cute one at that.

My Little Monkey

My sweet little Taeya enjoying her banana.

Taeya smiles like this at many of the people who smile at her in public. She likes grinning at people.

Taeya is now full-on crawling and definitely getting into trouble. She's so sweet the majority of the time but she's definitely got a bit of a temper. It'll be interesting to see how she further develops her little personality in the coming weeks and years, Lordwilling.

Taeya's new favorite thing is standing and holding onto gates, tables, Mommy, basically anything that will support her. As she's in about the 3rd percentile for weight and her head's in the 50th percentile, she's a bit top heavy and tends to tumble semi-frequently. Not fun to watch but the stage of life we're in.

The wave. She won't wave all the time, just when she wants something or when she chooses to say hi.