Where Have We Been?

This may give you some idea...

First, before we go there, let me backup and recap last week (since this is our scrapbook and I don't want to forget any of it).  Last Sunday the three of us had a lazy day and Aunt Melissa came to see Nicholas.  We are always happy to see her and excited that she came over.

 Nicholas had a fabulous week at school.  He was the only baby there most of the week and he loves his new teacher.  He was loving being the only baby there and I just had to show you this picture of him before school on Wednesday.  He has ALMOST outgrown his bouncy.  **tears**

Thursday when I picked him up he was alseep in his teacher's arms (highly unusual for my wild child) and I noticed his eye was looking a little pink and he had a lot of goop in it.  His teacher told me that he had been pulling on his ear a lot and his eye was getting worse as the day went on.  GREAT!  I knew immediately that he had pink eye.  However, just like my happy baby, he never acted like he didn't feel good.  Thursday night while I cooked dinner, he drove around in his jeep.  

Well, that was all good, because at 10:15 he woke up...mad!  I went in his room to get him and his left eye was stuck together due to the nastiness in it.  Poor baby DEFINITELY had pink eye.  He went back to bed about an hour later and we decided he would be staying home on Friday.

Friday morning I went on to work to finish up a few things and Michael stayed home.  They met me at the pedi office at 11:30 and this is what greeted me.  Bless it!  He wasn't feeling too good.

 Until he rediscovered the table paper!  I think I am just going to get him some table paper for his birthday!  Haha!

Dr. Spraggins came in and as soon as she saw him she knew that he had pink eye and also found an ear infection on the right.  We were sent home with amoxicillin and eye drops and told he should be good to go on Monday.  His chest was clear as was his throat.

Saturday we had a lazy day.  He stayed with my dad for an hour while I ran out and picked up some baby food, diapers, and this cool thing.  After reorganizing my pantry I realized I needed a baby food carousel.  I love it!  Yes, I am a dork and I even labeled each one according to day and meal.  ha!

I had been trying to find something cute on etsy for Valentine's Day and I found these super cute onesies.  They arrived on Saturday.  I think he is going to wear them for a few of his 6 month pics this weekend!

We also said goodbye to our snowfriend on Saturday.  This was around 5:00 Saturday afternoon.  He made it a lot longer than I expected!

Sunday things started to change.  When Nicholas woke up he sounded hoarse and wraspy.  I immediately thought RSV, but I convinced myself that couldn't be it since his chest seemed fine on Friday.  He was very lazy and slept a lot, including two hours with me in the bed (he FINALLY started rolling over in his sleep this weekend too!).

Well, that leads us to Sunday night.  Poor baby wouldn't eat, had a fever, and sounded terrible.  I just knew it had to RSV by then.  My mom offered to stay home yesterday and keep him so she took him back to Dr. Spraggins in the afternoon.  Again, she immediately knew it was RSV when she saw him.  He was using his abdomen to breath (a sign of RSV) and he was very wheezy.  The good news was that his ear and eye looked much better, but a swab showed that he did have RSV.  

She explained to her that normally this equals a trip to the hospital, but since he was happy, not in any obvious distress, good oxygen profusion, and was eating (he will eat a bottle slowly, just not his solids, which is ok right now).  She explained how dangerous RSV can be and what we needed to watch for and to keep him at home for the next two days.  We are hoping sweet boy will be able to return to school on Thursday, but tonight I'm not so sure.  His fever was back up to 100.4 and he sounded terrible.  So, what are these contraptions...

We are having to use a battery powered nasal aspirator (the bulb wasn't getting it because it is so thick) with saline at least hourly, an inhaler (that sure is fun for us all, not!), our awesome digital thermometer (all families need this!  Got it at Target for $40 and it has interchangeable ends, LOVE it!), Amoxicillin, and tylenol.  We are also making great use of our friend, Boogie Wipes.  After this is all over, I have a review to write on the nasal aspirator and Boogie Wipes.  Ha!

Please pray that sweet Nicholas has a better day tomorrow, no fever for 24 hours, and is able to return to school Thursday.  Also, I don't think I have mentioned it on here, but another reason I have been MIA is that I have been having a LOT of pain and numbness from my sciatic nerve.  I have pretty much gone to work, home, hot bath, and bed.  I have an appointment in the morning with a neurosurgeon.  I am hoping that everything is ok and it is an easy fix.  I will try to find the time to update again tomorrow night.  Thanks for all of the emails, comments, and tweets asking how we are and wondering where we've been.  Now you know!  It has just been a rough couple of weeks.

Couponing At Kroger

I know this is boring to a lot of you, but I want to keep track of my progress while I learn to coupon and live on a detailed budget.  I spent a ridiculous amount of time Thursday night on Southern Savers, going through my coupons in my notebook and on cellfire, and making a list for the upcoming weekend.  I decided that this week's best deals for our family were at Kroger (which is my preferred store anyway).  They had a frozen food mega sale (meaning several frozen foods that we use were on sale and buy 10/get $5 back, big savings for us).

Now, in order to have the most organization possible (and because my current state of organization post returning back to work was like a bomb went off) I spent Friday night throwing expired stuff away and organizing our pantry.  It was fun and a stress reliever for me. (It may not look that organized, but it is, just a lot of stuff in there! Haha!)

Yesterday I went on my shopping trip to Kroger.  I had my notebook and I was ready to go.  I bought 56 items, only paid full price for 9 (including a couple bottles of wine that are gifts, so not on my grocery budget), and saved $48!  My total was $155 before the register started taking off my e-coupons, coupons, and store savings.  The grand total at the very end was $112!!!  That was huge for me on just my third week really couponing (I've just been kind of playing with it before January).  Here is what all I got in the mega event and how it all broke down into even more savings (notice my little cutie in the background).

2 Totino's pizza rolls - were 2.99/1, on sale for 1.59/1, used an e-coupon for $.40 off/2!

2 Pillsbury Savorings - were 2.99/1, on sale for 1.70/1, used a coupon for $.50 off/2!

2 Toaster Strudels - were 2.19/1, on sale for 1.89/1, used a coupon for $.50 off/2!

Lean Cuisine bags - were $2.15/ea, used a coupon for $1 off 2! (bought 3)

Hungry Man meals for Michael's lunch (gross, I know!) - bought 5 for $1.00/each.

Green Giant Steamer Bags - bought 4, were 2.99, $0.50 off, used TWO coupons for $0.50 off/2!

Here is what my freezer looked like with it all put away. Haha!

I also had an awesome coupon for $3.00 off Glad Flex Garbage bags, so I got them for $3.49!!!  However, I think the best was my surprise find of Nicholas' $29/16 oz can of Pregestimil for...$19!!!!!!  I almost screamed in excitement when I saw it pretty gold label on sale!  :-)

And, just because what post would be complete without a picture of His Royal Highness himself, here is what I did to occupy the baby while unloading groceries...

Gave him a teething ring and a spoon. He was a happy little Shopper!

Back to School In New Shoes

Nicholas and I returned to our normal routine today.  There were some very sweet, dedicated ladies at Nicholas' school that spent the night last night to ensure that they were open today.  (Another benefit to a hospital daycare, they HAVE to be open)  It was very icy and cold today with a high of only 27, but tomorrow will be worse, so I decided to take a chance and venture out.  We did need four wheel drive to get to the main road, but once there, it was all ok.  I did hit ice twice on the way back, once leaving work and on the interstate (that was a little scary).

Nicholas wanted to show you what he wore to school for the first time today...shoes! (We hope Gigi didn't pass out from excitement since she thinks he should always have on shoes!)  It was so cold, I thought it would be good to wear them.  Our neighbor got these for him when he was born.  He seemed to really like them. (he did have on socks, just couldn't see them)

Also, I just had to show you what Nicholas did last night.  Apparently snow days can wear a baby out!  I left him playing with his table and when I came back 30 seconds later, this is what I saw. I thought it was pretty cute!

Snow Day #2

Well, we still have a grand total of 10 inches on the ground, ice packed roads, and no daycare, so we stayed at home for one more day.  My office opened at 10, but only a very few people made it in.  I am hoping I can make it tomorrow and Nicholas' school is going to be open, but only by reservation.  Some of the staff will be spending the night to ensure they can open.  Have I mentioned lately taht WE LOVE HIS SCHOOL!

Anyway, we got up around 8:00 this morning and just enjoyed a nice, warm, cuddly morning. Nicholas took a long nap this afternoon.  I'm sure I've mentioned this before (I forget what I say on here, twitter, and FB), but he doesn NOT nap well, so when he does, it is a huge deal!  While he slept I took a little nap and Michael did this for him...

 When he woke up he was excited to see his new snow friend from the window, so we went outside to see it upclose.

 He just HAD to touch him of course!  Haha!  Don't you love our snowfriend's arms?  Ha!  We didn't have much to use.  I guess you could say we have team spirit!

 Daddy and Nicholas with the snowfriend.

 I put a batch of chili in the crockpot to enjoy tonight and we are going to have a tasty bowl of chili and enjoy one more night off from work.    

Hope everyone has stayed safe.  Pray that this stuff either starts to melt soon or that we do not have significant icing like they think we will tonight.  I REALLY need to make it to the office tomorrow.  We have a delay again and a jean day, so hopefully I can make it in to return some calls and see patients with Dr. Smith.  Michael may or may not be able to get his car out, we'll see closer to morning.

Baby's First Snow Day!

We woke up this morning to this and when I checked my FB, I saw that both my office and Nicholas' school were closed (his school was closed for the first time ever)!

Unfortunately, babies do not get the memo that you are supposed to sleep late on snow days! Ha!  We played this morning in side before venturing out this afternoon.  Our neighbors moved here from Michigan last year and they had an adorable baby sled they let us borrow.  How cute is this?!

 This might just be my new favorite picture!  I LOVE how sweet it is of my two favorite boys.

 At the end of the side street there is a big hill and almost the entire subdivision was out there sledding.  We didn't, but we did stay down there a little while and talk to some neighbors.

Another look at just how much snow we had.  Michael had left his car out last night and had go get in it to get his gloves.

When we got back my sweet cuddly boy and I took almost two hours worth of a nap on the couch.  It was wonderful to just spend some time cuddling.  I put some left over roast and veggies in the crockpot this morning and we had warm, yummy beef vegetable soup tonight. YUM!

We have had virtually no melting and there is some ice and snow still headed our way, so I think we will be doing it all over again tomorrow.  Good thing I went to the store three times this weekend! Haha!

Week-end Wrap up

First, thanks everyone for the Happy Anniversary wishes!  You are the best!  We had a great day (more on that below)!

I realized that I haven't really blogged in about a week, so I wanted to get caught up.  I decided to do project 365 considering I take at least one picture every day anyway, so here we go (everyday is not on here because I am saving those for later posts)!  New Year's Day we had some of our neighbors over for football.  Our neighbor Jonathan is a chef at a local restaurant and he brought over some gumbo that I would kill for!  Nicholas dressed for the occasion as you can tell...

 Sunday we had a lazy day at home and I took this picture of Nicholas entertaining himself while I cooked dinner. There is only so much you can do sometimes! Haha!

 I had a very crazy week at work.  Traumaland was crazy this week and I was worn out every night by the time I got home.  Nicholas also started the new year with a new teacher in his classroom.  His teacher quit to stay at home the week of Christmas (when he was out sick) and I was nervous about started with someone new, but he had a great first week with her and so far we love her!  Nicholas has been napping well at school, so he has stayed up later (as in 8:00!).  I've been trying to keep him occupied while I cook or clean up and thank goodness for his favorite toy!  My parents got Nicholas a jeep walker for Christmas and this kid LOVES it!  He has lived in it.  It is too funny!

 He has also enjoyed playing in his "play area" in our living room.  I have to do some childproofing yet, but for right now, this is a good place for him to play while I do things around the house.

Friday I left after lunch to take him for his 6-month appointment.  You can read about that two posts back if you haven't yet.  He is a BIG boy!  Haha!

I'm sad we didn't get a picture of us, but we went out last night for our sixth anniversary.  We went to our favorite local restaurant, Hennen's.  It was unbelievably good (as always)!  My parents offered to keep Nicholas for our anniversary gift, we missed him, but got over eleven hours sleep last night!  We were like new people today!  Ha!

Last week I posted about couponing.  I ended up going with the notebook method and so far I'm doing really well.  I spent the day organizing and putting it all together after I went to pick up Nicholas.

Even Nicholas and Daddy were looking at the ads and helping Mommy pick out coupons! Haha!

It is VERY cold here in the Chattanooga area.  The low last night was 11 and today was only 33.  We are supposed to have a "significant" snow tonight, so obviously I went to the store today before picking up my baby! Haha! Here is our local forecast off the news website: "Winter Storm Warning tonight until 7pm EST Monday.  Snow is expected to move into the Tennessee Valley later tonight and continue through Monday.  Sleet may mix with the snow at times.  Expected accumulations through Monday evening are 4-6" in the Chattanooga metro area and low elevations of western North Carolina, 4-7" in north Alabama, 4-6" in north Georgia, and possibly 8"+ in the highest elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and northeast Georgia." I say, BRING IT ON!  I'm ready for a nice, lazy day cuddling with my baby!  I'm going to start now by drinking a hot chocolate from the Keurig and watching Desperate Housewives.

Six Years Ago

Six years ago today...

I married my best friend...

 we've had many ups and downs...

 we've grown up a lot and grown closer in the process...

 That day I thought I could never love him more...

I was wrong...

 The moment I saw him with our baby I realized I had never loved him more than I did at that moment

 I loved the way he looked at him and the way he instantly loved him.

 Six years ago I thought we were the happiest we could ever be...

I was wrong...we are now!

Michael, I love you more today than ever.  You are the best husband and Dad anyone could ask for.  It has been a hard six years at times, but we have come so far and grown so much because of it all.  Thank you for all of your support during the hard times.  We've also had some fun times and I wouldn't have wanted to spend those times with anyone else either.  I love you and can't wait to see what next fifty years have in store for us!