Matching Dresses

When my mom arrived here from Oregon several weeks ago, she brought with her a pair of matching dresses she'd made for the girls.  This is especially fun since my girls are 4 years apart and there are never matching outfits in the stores.


Here's my little Belle in her dress.  Isn't it cute???  I just love the lace at the bottom.



And Sweet Pea's dress!  Love those flowers at the top.  She calls this her "overall dress."


I love how long and flow-y it is.  :)  And those cute toes poking out at the bottom.  Sigh.  Love it!

Labels: As God Provides, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 6:00 AM 0 Comments

Catching up on some Sewing

 And what little girl isn't adorable with a bit of eyelet peeking out from beneath her dress???

Can I tell you a secret???  The slips aren't white.  Oh, the eyelet is... but not the slip.  We made them out of old (three cheers for upcycling!!!) crib sheets that were far from the original white.  Three babies far!  With my little Belle, we decided it was time for new ones. 

 Can you see that little bow at coming from above the eyelet trim???

It's attached to a little white ribbon mom sewed around the whole thing about 1/8 above the white eyelet.  It makes the whole thing look deliberate.  Love that!

 Then there's the bloomers... love me some bloomers!  Aren't they sweet.  Also made from old crib sheets! (Also McCall's 4505)
 There's another longer pair for winter... but it's not quite finished.


 Anyone guess what this was???

 It's a bathing suit!  Isn't it cute??  Complete with ruffle around the neck...

 and little leggings.

 I'm thrilled she likes it!

The next test is going to be whether it works in the pool next week. :)

No pattern for this one.  We kind of came up with our own pattern.  


Do you sew for your kids???  I'd love to see!


Participating here:

Labels: As God Provides, As it happens..., Raising Children, With These Hands

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:14 PM 4 Comments

Being content behind closed doors

Yesterday I mentioned we put an offer on a house. I didn't tell you it came with 4.9 acres, a horse barn, a couple of out buildings, room for chickens and goats and lots of growing space. I didn't tell you that much of it was recently re-done and that we loved the look of the old log build.

This morning we learned that our offer was presented to the bank with another... and they were offering cash. That was the biggest thing we could come against. We would never win against cash. (Though we wish we could offer cash for a house... we just can't yet.) We didn't get it.

Was I disappointed? Yes... and if I let myself think about it, I still am. And I'll be honest, it took a couple hours to work through everything and look (in appearance and action and attitude) on the outside the way I knew I should feel on the inside.

We knew going in that we weren't assured this house. We've been doing all our talking and dreaming about this place knowing that it was all hypothetical. There was always a "if we get it" attached to every idea mentioned... even if it was just in my head. Still, when I heard our realtor's voice on the line today, my heart sank a little... there just wasn't any excitement in it.

But as I began working through the disappointment, I did so by focusing on what we've been given in this and not what we've lost. I began a mental list of all the blessings we've been given behind this closed door.

They're always there... behind each closed door. The blessings!

1. We ask Him to guide us... He did, and we aren't left to wonder about anything.

2. This was going to be tight on us financially... we can now buckle down into more intense saving without the stress of penny to penny living (at least not yet).

3. We probably won't have to cancel our trip to see family in Michigan later this summer (like we were thinking we'd have to do).

4. We'll have air conditioning all summer! We wouldn't have had it at this place.

5. We know something *better* is coming. (Romans 8:28)



The list goes on as I'm continually thinking of "silver linings" to this closed door.

Could I come up with a longer list of reasons to be disappointed and sad? Maybe. But the path to contentment behind closed doors is to focus on what God is giving now... not what he may give later or has chosen not to give.

Focus on Him... what He is giving you now. Joy abounds behind those doors when you do! That works for me!


This week I'll be linking up with...

Labels: As God Provides, Life Lessons for Mommy, Reflections

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 10:07 PM 10 Comments

Healthcare and the Believer

With all the different news over the last months about the health care bill (and all the many changes that have come with it), it's hard to follow. Hard to know exactly what it's going to do... what it means... and what we can do about it. And it's harder for some to understand that others. My husband probably has a pretty good handle on what is going on, but I rarely feel like I do. I just know it's not good. Not good for our nation. Not good for the American people. Not good for believers. Just not good.

I read a newsletter article this evening that laid out the basics of what is happening here in a nice clear way... even I could understand:

A key difference between Christianity and humanism is our soteriology (our view of salvation). Christians believe that man's basic problem is sin. Humanists believe man's basic problem is his environment. Consequently, humanist advocate salvation through legislation. The idea is that the State can save man through education, wealth redistribution, or other environmental changes. This view of the messianic state -- the state as savior-- is at the heart of President Obama's socialized medicine initiative.

Christians, not the federal or state government, are to care for their own, including widows and the fatherless (James 1:27). Doug Phillips, President of Vision Forum Ministries

Read the rest of A Biblical Alternative to Socialized Healthcare.


This may be the option many of us are looking for now!

Labels: As God Provides, Passing it On

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 7:51 AM 0 Comments

Toy Organization

We've been dreaming of some better way to organize the toys than this! I was originally looking for more of those green baskets to add for holding things, but it seems Walmart (as well as other places for that matter) doesn't carry them anymore. Turns out that I've now seen them in a couple places, but not in colors that match our decor... so it really doesn't matter anyway.

Anyway... On the very top of this shelf are things I don't want the kids getting to. There are client orders all packaged up on the right (note: if the clients would have come to get them before Christmas they wouldn't be there... still), batteries I'm working on charging for a shoot (Sweet Pea likes to find them and stick them ALL the way in her mouth if I leave them down too low), a left over jar from baby shower prep (really there is no reason for it to be there still), a homemade by grandma wooden toy that is broken again and waiting for repair (sorry Mom), and of coarse the iron (and all I can say about the iron is that My Beloved waited all week for me to finally get around to ironing work pants for him... I couldn't put the iron away until I'd finally done it.)

The next shelf has the books I don't want the kids to read on their own. Library books are on the left and special and heavy books are on the right.

Next shelf has books they can read whenever... and it's actually organized pretty well in this picture. Every day or so I try to straighten them up... it doesn't last long since Sweet Pea doesn't yet know how to get them in their vertically (and I'm not sure Tornado really does either).

The bottom two shelves are miscellaneous toys in various containers. Basically, these shelves made me crazy on a constant basis.

For months we've been trying to decide how we wanted to re-arrange the toys. These shelves sit in our living room (which is really part of the big open space that is our living room, entryway, kitchen and dining room all put together.) I see them all the time... they needed a change.

After looking at all sorts of options, I knew those cute cube shelves were what I wanted, but I didn't really want to spend that much on shelves and little cube basket things. I looked for some second hand for a while. I'd give up and then start over again regularly. Then after some money came in for Sweet Pea's birthday a couple weeks ago, we decided exactly what we would do with it. Instead of toys for her birthday (seriously... what did she need?), she got toy organization...

I was tempted to feel bad about it, but the kids are still (a week and a half later) pretty excited about them. Tornado still calls them the new shelves. The green basket on the bottom right wasn't supposed to be there. I suppose a helpful kid stuck it in. I didn't notice it until My Beloved pointed it out in the picture.

A little tour...

On top are those special and library books I don't want them to have on their own. They can reach them, but know they can't have them without asking and reading them with us. The boxes acting as book ends are nesting and wooden blocks (respectively). At present they have been removed for playing purposes and the books are laying in a stack... but some day there will be nice book ends holding them up all pretty!

The kid book shelves are obvious... it is much easier for them to keep them straight with the smaller spaces! :) The green basket in between is a large soft doll my mother in law made Sweet Pea for Christmas and all her little clothes (you saw them in the pic above wedged in a cardboard box that was too small, but the real residence of them prior to that was piled on the floor to the right of the shelves... this is nicer!)

The yellow baskets hold the felt food and play dishes/tea set (with room to grow) in one and their duplo blocks in the other. The middle shelf is still under construction as I'm not sure what to do with random little toys.

On the bottom, the green basket has the Thomas trains and track (pretty full) and room for the dump truck and other misc items on the other two shelves.

So there you have it... a very long, drawn out tour of something that you never wanted to know. I have to share it with you though because I'm excited... I really like the new toy storage solution... and hopefully another basket or two can easily be fit into our lives when it's time to bring little baby toys out. :)

Labels: As God Provides, Keeping My Home, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:11 AM 1 Comments

Back Again

Hi!

I in no way intended to be gone for so long... let alone at all, but apparently I needed some time away.

My time away from blogging has left me with a good amount of things to share with you, so I hope to be a more regular participant in this blog in the coming days! :) I won't tell you what I have planned, since that usually means it won't happen. But I hope you will be entertained or blessed or something by it all.

An exciting tid bit from today...

I have a new stroller! And by "new" I do mean new! I was talking with my mom one day last week about the stroller I was looking for on Craig's list and by that afternoon she informed me that an early Mother's Day gift was on it's way! Wow... what an unexpected treat! Now I can walk for exercise again, and just while we are having some pre-spring weather. I haven't been able to do that in a long time (since our last stroller died more than a year ago). Ugh... I'm out of shape!

Labels: As God Provides

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 12:28 PM 1 Comments

Saving on Diapers: A Potty Training Experiment: the first week

I know some of you are wondering how potty training is going over here. First and formost... Tornado is back in a diaper at night. It just wasn't worth the extra work and laundry. We'll give him some more time and try again.

Sweet Pea is doing great!! She's in underwear all day including nap time (unless we leave the house...then I put her in a diaper, though she usually stays dry and continues to tell me when she has to go). And yes, she is telling me when she has to go. Sometimes it's 5 times in 8 minutes, but we're getting through it. She isn't telling me when she has to do more than potty. :) I'm getting really good at washing out undies and am thinking I might be up for cloth diapering when the new baby comes. It just doesn't seem so bad anymore. :)

We continue... accidents happen and we move on. She's picked up on it way faster than Tornado did when we trained him, and for that I'm thankful! As far as I'm concerned, this experiment is a huge success!!

Labels: As God Provides, As it happens..., Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 2:24 PM 1 Comments

Saving Money on Diapers!

I mentioned briefly that we're crimping down our budget to save anything and everything we can these days (the reasons why still to come). We left the grocery store this last time at just over half of what we usually spend (it won't always be possible, but we were thrilled with that time!) I've avoided several "eat out because I don't have anything for dinner" expenses (which were becoming more common in the last month or so). I imagine that alone has saved us $50 or more dollars! We're making more budget friendly meals.

Well, today I'm trying to get one more budget buster reduced to it's minimum! Diapers. It's early... earlier that I was going to try this anyway, but worth the attempt! In the hopes of reducing diapers to nap and bed times for Sweet Pea (Tornado has been doing this almost a year now), I've put her in underwear this morning. I'm following a plan taught to me by my dear friend J. So far, one accident and now we're waiting... no successes, but think... I saved a diaper already!

I'll keep you posted on this money saving venture!

And yes, I'm ok with being the one trained at this stage... it's still cheaper!

Labels: As God Provides, As it happens..., Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:47 AM 0 Comments

New Shoes

My Beloved and I haven't needed to do much purchasing of clothes for our littles. Between hand me downs and gifts, we've managed to purchase very few items for them. Tornado's orange jacket (presently part of my header) that we purchased last fall was one of my favorites. We found it (Old Navy by the way) at Salvation Army for like $4. My favorite part is that it's a 4T... we put it on him last year and rolled up the sleeves a bit, this year it works great and yet is still a little on the bigger side so that it might actually work next year too!

Back on topic. Shoes have been hit and miss. Tornado's first real shoes were purchased one Christmas by my mom. We needed them... she wanted to buy them... she was in town... we went shopping. End of story. Then there are the "church" shoes that came with the Christmas outfit. For Sweet Pea, there have been a pair or two purchased as gifts, but (blessing beyond blessing) friends of ours have a little girl born around when Tornado was, so every time Sweet Pea comes into a new size, they bring over trash bags full of hand me downs for us to go through, wear and then return to them. There are always tons of shoes in there... more than we ever need, I guarantee!

When the warmth of late spring/early summer began we did have to purchase each kid a pair of sandals, but they are very multi-purpose. One pair of sandals are all they really need. They wear them to church and the store, to the play ground, in the garden and in the creek. One pair of shoes does a full summer.

As summer ended (a bit earlier than we expected), I added socks to their sandaled feet and made a mental note that we needed to pull out the next size of shoes for the kids. As I did that though, I discovered that, though we have a half dozen or more pairs of shoes for Sweet Pea in size 6, we had nothing in her size 5 feet. Same went for Tornado. We have a great pair of multi-purpose boots for him, but they are size 8, and Tornado's not quite there yet (hopefully winter).

So this past week we ventured to payless for shoes. I have a gift card from my birthday, but couldn't find anything that worked for me, so we headed for the kids shoes.

Tornado was thrilled with his camo shoes! He is always talking about them and asking specifically, "Can I wear my camo shoes?" I know I'm going to wish I'd chose something more bland when I want to put him in his navy pants... or just about anything that might not look great with camo, but I've decided I don't care. He really likes these shoes.

Sweet Pea loves shoes and loved being at a shoe store. We picked some size 5s out for her too. Though there was nothing I really loved, they would work until the "promised" bag of size 5 shoes would come from a sweet church lady. They seemed to fit alright, but the next morning while the kids were were wearing their shoes around the house (they wanted to wear their new shoes) she was seemingly suffering from pain. The mail lady was coming (a big event for every morning!) and on her way to the front door to meet us, she stopped sharply and cried until I would come. She didn't want to take any more steps.

Back to the shoe store we went. And guess what???

They had the cute ones I liked in 5 1/2! I was (and am) very excited about that!! I almost bought the dark brown ones we tried on first. My eye liked them better from the start, but after deciding on them, I saw that these lighter ones were the same design. I'm glad I opted for these because the dark brown ones wouln't have looked so cute with this little outfit!!

Labels: As God Provides, As it happens..., Little Moments

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 1:38 PM 0 Comments

Our garden: why

In yet another effort at healthy/natural living, My Beloved and I are attempting our first garden. I don't think anyone will disagree with the fact that fresh produce is best! Best in regards to taste and in regards to nutritional density! It's just best.

Planting a garden is also the way to go in today's economy. While in the past several years we've been wanting to start a garden to help live more frugally, this year we've decided that it may become necessary. I haven't delved into the economy and the state of the world (present and future) too much here on my blog, but don't think that means it isn't something we are discussing and preparing for in real life. This may be a topic that we begin exploring here down the road, but for now, suffice it to say that if food is going to get expensive (and by that I mean too expensive), then we want to have our own supply.

Back to the healthy side of things: In the grocery stores, we have begun changing the things we shop for, and by that I mean we are buying more and more organics, especially where produce is concerned... this is expensive, but to avoid the pesticides etc, it is much better.

There is another reason we are growing (hopefully) our garden this year... BPA. (You can read what Wikipedia has to say about it here. Info about BPA in canned foods is here.) Yep, almost all your canned foods and soda's are lined with plastic containing BPA, a toxic chemical linked to cancer, infertility, birth defects and more! We've recently removed as much BPA from our home as we can figure. But the last item on the list is canned foods (I know, that probably should have been first.) It's hard to get rid of canned fruits and veggies... especially in the winter. We've reduced to almost never using them, but our garden is another step to being independent of canned foods. We are hoping to grow enough to eat and can our own (in glass mason jars). We'll see how that goes.

Let me say this... we are true novices. Neither of us have ever gardened before (at least not successfully!) And we are a bit ambitious (our plans are bigger than the average beginner's should be). And I plan to share it all with you. Success or failure. Now may be the time to add that, not only have we never done this before, but we don't have the greatest set up for a garden... not great light anyway. But we press on... and hope the Lord will multiply our light. Oh, and we haven't exactly cleared it with our landlord yet. And since we are hoping to put it in the front yard (our "backyard" is somewhat non-existent) and he lives next door... we really feel the need to clear it with him first.

I'll be back with pictures and stories from this years garden experience! :)


Any one else plunging into spring with garden plans? Or seeds sprouting in their kitchens? Or anything else?

Labels: As God Provides, As it happens..., Healthy Living, In the Kitchen

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 4:01 PM 3 Comments

The day Disney came in handy

Most days Tornado and I go out and meet the mail lady together. When we return to the warmth of our home, I try to find some piece of mail that is "his". This time there was a "Disney movie club" mailer. You know the type... buy 4 for $1 each today and then spend half your salary each month for more of them... oh and you can't ever get out of the club or maffia hit men will come after you and we'll still charge your card. Ok, so maybe it's not that bad... maybe. Regardless, we're not interested. This was the perfect piece of mail to let Tornado have, play with and destroy.

He set to work on the kitchen floor and I set down to accomplish something at my computer. Moments later he came to me with a small stack of papers, including 2 "sticker" sheets. One was labels... for labeling all those new DVDs we would buy, and one was actual stickers. I don't usually set Tornado loose with a whole sheet of stickers, but I thoughts... what better use. Had I not given it to him, I wouldn't have ever opened the envelope to know they were there in the first place... and besides, what will I do with them?


I grabbed a piece of computer paper and set it on the recliner (i.e. Daddy's chair) next to my desk. I gave him the sticker sheet and helped him get started. He had a blast... and almost entirely self-playing. He filled up both sides of the paper. Looked, talked about, stuck, tore (oops) and such with those stickers for a long while. As I thought about it later, that was free fun, easy entertainment, and made it possible for me to get some work done nearby. Oh... and good fine motor skill exercise too for those of you who care! :)


Visit Crystal's blog for Frugal Friday!

Labels: As God Provides, As it happens..., Learning for Little Ones, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:49 AM 4 Comments

Not afraid of what's to come

Labels: As God Provides, In the Kitchen, Keeping My Home, Mommy's Tool Box

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 6:16 PM 0 Comments

A Bookshelf, Repurposed... again

We've lived in this little mobile home for 3 1/2 years now (I'll get back to our love story someday soon, I promise!) It's amazing how our needs have changed in that time. Our guest room became our nursery, and as such, we needed to redecorate... on a budget. This post, however, isn't about that particular re-purposing. That change marked the first re-purposing of one particular book shelf. This past week, My Beloved approached me with an idea. Could we move the bookshelf from Tornado's room (someday soon to be Sweet Pea's room too) into the living room to hold toys?

Huh... what a great idea. It wasn't holding books anymore anyway. When we "redecorated" that room into a nursery, the books got packed away. Those shelves had held a number of things in the year and a half since Tornado was born: diapers, toys, baby books, blankets, extra clothes (some that didn't fit anymore and others that didn't fit yet), etc, etc. Over time however, most of the toys and books kept ending up out here in the living room. Sure, I would grab a bunch and move them back to the bedroom to decrease clutter, but in less than a weeks time everything was out here again.

Why not. Wednesday night before putting Tornado to bed, My Beloved and I carried the bookshelf out here... then after bedtime, we rearranged some things. What a difference it has made. Sure... it doesn't match ANY of the other furniture in our house. And sure... we needed another piece of furniture in this room like we needed a hole in our heads. But it's so much better. I wish I'd taken a before picture for you, but I didn't think of it (you're shocked right?). The toy situation was just mounding in the corner. Now, I actually feel like I can train Tornado to clean up after himself. Here are pictures of the shelves now.
The best part about all this is that it was completely free! I'm all for frugal... and it doesn't get any better than that!

Labels: As God Provides, Keeping My Home, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:37 AM 3 Comments

Frugal Diapers... be willing to buy off brand!

I thought I'd participate in Frugal Friday this week. Especially since I have a concept to share. It's been said time and time again, but I may have a new twist on it... diapers. :)

Brand loyalty... does it keep you paying the higher prices? I arrived at CVS the other day with a plan, and part of that plan was to pick up a pack of Pampers diapers... on sale, with ECBs. They still weren't going to be cheap, and it wasn't the best deal ever, but we were OUT OF DIAPERS in Sweet Pea's size and I was desperate... and at least it would generate ECBs.

We started in the tooth paste aisle where we picked up a couple tubes of tooth paste that actually made us a couple bucks... then we split up, My Beloved to the greeting card aisle to get a couple engagement cards and me to the diaper aisle. I was there a long time searching and searching. Turns out, no size 1 Pampers... anywhere. I didn't even see where they should have been. I searched and searched before stumbling on her size... but it was in the CVS brand. Shucks... that's not going to work. Then I saw it... the "Clearence, 50% off" tag. I was able to get twice the diapers for half the money I was prepared to spend all because I was willing to buy what was available! Talk about exciting!

Labels: As God Provides

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:16 AM 5 Comments

Being good... and getting rewarded!

Ok... so maybe you've decided not to join me, but hopefully you are up for the play by play! Funny how the most temptation comes right after a decision, isn't it?!? Yeah... funny... that's the word!

So DS and I were leaving the doctors office (all is well by the way... only gained 3 pounds in 2 weeks ~ it's not 2, but it's not the five I was afraid of either) at 1pm... about an hour later than I would have expected, but we did a lot of waiting today. Long story short... pregnant lady was hungry... and Wendy's (in the same parking lot) was calling my name. Allow for me to clarify my plan for you all... I'm watching my sugar intake and generally trying not to eat tons of bad things all the time. I made the quick decision that a burger is completely acceptable... and doesn't it sound soooo good! Mmmm... and fries! As long as I have a reasonable amount of them (aka no supersizing) that should be fine! Ok... it's decided... I get in the line of cars at the drive through. There are 3 or 4 in front of me. It's not like it's noon or anything! Crazy!

Ok... so now to decide what I want... looking at the board of yumminess while the 3-4 cars take their time with ordering. Hmmm... a chicken sandwich... maybe that is healthier. Um... not if I get the yummy breaded chicken. Ok... a burger sounds better today anyway... which one??? If I get the littlest one I am sure to spend less right? Ok... the 1/4 pound burger... the #1... perfect. Now there are only 2 cars in front of me. And is... yes, DS has fallen asleep in the car (it was nap time after all!) Excellent... I hope he will go back down after we get home.

So... there I was... in line for my burger and fries. Oh... and a Frosty... NO... bad... no frosty! I will just get a soda... hmmm... sugar in a soda too (we avoid aspertaime)... this isn't working well! Ok... I'll just get water... but then I can't get a value meal... etc... etc...

You see how this was going. So now I am truly next... not only next, but the car in front of me is starting to move out of the way... I really am next! So what do I do??? I just pulled out of line and drove home. Yes... a small victory! I was still craving something yummy from a place that isn't home, but I did the grown up thing. And why??? Because I shared my resolve with all of you this morning! Thank you for your accountiblity!

I did drive home the whole way thinking about how I would need to eat out sometime soon to take my "craving" away. Mmmm... maybe sushi!

Well, isn't it great to have a loving God... and a loving husband! Not a full minute after arriving home and putting DS in bed the phone rang. DH was on his way home from a sushi lunch and wanted to make sure I was home so he could bring me some. I was a good girl, and I was rewarded with a few pieces of yummy sushi!

Praise God for all his blessings!

Labels: As God Provides, As it happens..., Life Lessons for Mommy

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 5:10 PM 3 Comments

Blood... and today's plans

I had big plans to participate in Crystal's Making your Home a Haven Challenge today... and in Rachelanne's Small Things Challenge... then the blood happened! I do still plan to do what I can... and to include my list of things to do, but I'm exhausted already! First let me tell you about the blood (sorry if it's TMI).

Yes... we had our first real bleeding incident. It seems to me that DS got a bloody nose when falling off the bed at 6 months (please tell me this happens to everyone), but it didn't bleed long or much. Today, while I was vacuuming the living room (see my list below), DS was running from this to that, watching me and staying clear of the vacuum (he no longer cries when it's on, but he does want to make sure he knows where it is... pretty cute really!) He had climbed on Daddy's recliner and was getting down (something he is very good at doing safely) when something went wrong. I saw it happen, yet have no idea what happened at the same time. Basically, he fell... sideways sort of and landed with the back of his head to the floor. I knew this could go a few different ways, so I waited. He could get right back up and keep going, fuss first, then get back to business, or cry and want me to comfort him. He chose the later... which didn't surprise me today.

So... I turned of the vacuum and went over to scoop my sobbing little boy off the floor. I lay his head on my shoulder and swayed back and forth while feeling his head and shushing. He cried and cried for several minutes before picking his head up to look at me. That's when I saw it... lots of blood all over his face. I next looked at my shoulder and saw even more blood soaked into my green sweatshirt. I've got to tell you... my first thoughts weren't good. I was sure we were into some sort of blunt force trauma injury and he was bleeding from the mouth as a result. I was a little disoriented and panicky, but I needed to figure out what to do at the same time. I tried cleaning things up so I could see where the blood was coming from and whether or not it was still bleeding. At the same time I was getting blood on everything I touched and trying to call DH at the same time.

Long story short, I never did see exactly what was bleeding, but it slowed down. I am assuming he must have bit the inside of his upper lip (since it seemed a bit swollen). I got him a sippy cup of cold water in hopes of washing his mouth out a bit so I could see better. It worked alright... but still it is near impossible to get him to open his mouth so I can see in. Sticking my tongue out at him did the trick for tongue inspection as he loves that game and was more than happy to stick his tongue way out at me. Nothing.

The bleeding had stopped, he played a bit, had lunch, we went on a short outing to have his ears looked at by a doctor we know, and I brought him home for his nap. I could tell he was crying standing up in his crib, so I went in to help him lay back down (when I can tell he is standing, that means all his blankets and his monkey are on the floor and he will never lay down himself). Unfortunately, it seems sucking on his fingers while trying to fall asleep started the bleeding again, so his blanket, and his poor stuffed monkey had a good amount of blood on them. *Sigh*... does anyone else hate cleaning up blood?

Anyway... all this to say, after all the emotional stress and cleaning up blood, I don't know how much of the following list will actually get done today (I really need a nap or chocolate or something), but here is my goal list:

• Stow some toys for later on
• Meal Plan/Grocery list for shopping tonight
• CVS Shopping Game Plan
• Finish Laundry and Fold
• Iron DH work pants
• Launder bed linens
• Bake potatoes for making Twice Baked
• Vacuum Living Room

Thankfully, I am already able to cross off a couple of these from this morning... now we'll see about the rest... one thing at a time!

Labels: As God Provides, Have to Laugh, Keeping My Home, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 1:06 PM 4 Comments

Saving Money with Free Homeschooling

Today is Frugal Friday over at Biblical Womanhood. As I was thinking of what I could share with you all, I decided to "piggyback" (nod to Crystal's post) my Learning for Little Ones's series with something school related.

Labels: As God Provides, Learning for Little Ones, Mommy's Tool Box, Passing it On

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:40 AM 4 Comments

The Season of Receiving

I was contemplating Christmas today while DH was out doing his Christmas shopping (of course meaning his shopping for me). I was doing a different kind of contemplating than you would expect though... at least than I would expect. I would love to tell you I was sitting back pondering the birth of Jesus in my heart, or going down a list of things I praise God for, or something equally (and deeply) "spiritual".

The contemplating I was doing had more to do with thinking about receiving. As in gifts. Don't get me wrong... I get that it is better to give than receive, and I know the real reason for Christmas, but at the same time I get really excited about opening presents (the result of growing up in an affluent [aren't we all compared to others] society no doubt) just about any time. Really it's more about the surprise. I love presents at my birthday or Christmas, or just about any time.

This year though, I'm not really looking forward to anything in particular. I'm super excited to have my husband open his gift, and I know I will love whatever he found for me, but gifts overall are not important. I am feeling the need to be very simple, yet am surrounded by a deluge of gifts for myself, my husband and, mostly, our little boy. For myself I'm almost afraid to do the opening part of Christmas... knowing that I really don't need anything. As lovely as my gifts will be, I'm sure, it seems contrary to the simplifying and decluttering we are trying to do in our home and lives.

For our son it is even harder. DH and I agree (though it is something I have come by slower) that there is no reason for him to have a ton of toys. First, we have limited space for living in, let alone toy storage. Second, if we are to train him to be content with simple things, we don't want to surround him with every thing possible.

While we have personally bought very few things for our son, he never wants for anything! Between grandparents, great grandparents, friends and other family, our home is overflowing with toys etc! Please don't misunderstand me! We feel very blessed that the Lord has provided so many things for us and our little one. I'm just trying to figure out how to find a balance. We have so many things from other people that I haven't even felt like I could give him the one toy we bought that I was most excited about. :(

Anyway... this post has dragged on long enough I'm sure. And with all the family buzzing around, I'm getting distracted. I would love to know how you have dealt with similar situations in your families. Christmas is a time for celebrating Christ and his gift! I am blessed to have already "opened" that gift. If you haven't already "opened" the Gift God sent to the world, I'd love to tell you how! :)

Labels: As God Provides, Reflections

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 6:24 PM 1 Comments

Bad News ~ My CVS Experience this week

I feel the need to share this with all you ladies who have been shopping the CVS deals with me all these months. The deals weren't great this week, but there were a few things I went to get. I had with me my $2/$10 coupons, a $4/$20 that printed out at the register last week, and a stack of ECBs. I had mapped out my shopping trip on 3x5 cards like I do every week (each transaction gets it's own card. On that card I write which items I am purchasing [and how many], how much it is if I know, and how many ECBs it should generate. I also include a list of the coupons [in order of use] I will use for that transaction.)

After picking up everything I had gone for (except the vial of Tylenol, that was out of stock) I waited in line behind a man who was unhappy and struggling with the cashier (a cashier I have found pleasant in all my dealings with him). I overheard mention of coupon problems and a new policy. "Hmmm... I wonder what they mean by new policy," I thought to myself.

When it was my turn I asked about it. I was pleasant (trying to give the poor cashier a more pleasant transaction than the one I had just witnessed) and simply asked my questions... assuring him that I simply wanted to know so I could do it right in the future. I, too, required the help of the manager as we walked through my transactions.

So here is the scoop... apparently they are no longer letting you stack CVS coupons as they did before. If you want to use a CVS $4/$20 coupon and a CVS $2/$10 coupon in the same transaction, you must be purchasing at least $30 worth of products! (This seems to apply to printed Internet coupons and printed receipt coupons together.) Does that make sense? Apparently CVS has noticed that they are loosing money and jobs are at stake here. The computers will no longer do it for you.

Unfortunately the CVS workers felt the need to blame us (the consumer) for the whole thing. They kept clarifying that if we would just use the coupons the way they say to use them we will be fine. I checked my $2/$10 coupon when I got home and noticed that it simply says "Limit one coupon per customer." Our understanding until now is that if the code is different, another CVS coupon should be fine. That is obviously no longer true. They also pointed out to me that they can "no longer just take everything we give them like they used to" (implying that we are trying to slip something past them). I chose not to point out that it is the computers job to double check things like that (or I didn't think of it until later... I'm not good in confrontational moments). Regardless... the computer is doing it's job now.

Does this mean deals at CVS are no longer any good? I don't think so. We certainly won't be able to save as much as we were, but I think we can still live frugally before the Lord with the opportunities he helps us to find.

Have any of you had similar situations with this? I would love to know!

Labels: As God Provides, As it happens...

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 12:01 PM 3 Comments

Super Savings Saturday

I've got to tell you ladies... and I'm sorry to say... The savings is not the most exciting part of this weeks purchase! I know... heresy right? The savings is simply the means to getting to have what I got to get! New furniture! See:

Ok, so the chest (in the second picture) is for storing our photography gear (difficult to both live in and run a business from a small home so we got creative), so that is a business expense, but we got it for hundreds of dollars less than the custom one we were going to have built (and it only took the one day to get). The couches, though, we have wanted for more than a year. We spotted them last year around this time (I remember because DH was worried my water would break while we were testing them out ~ TMI??? Sorry!) and loved them. We decided that if they still had them in February we would go back... then decided we didn't "NEED" them, so we waited.

Then... someone pointed out the 20% off entire purchase coupon for Buzz Club members at Big Lots (I'm sorry I don't remember who... I looked to try to find the post I found it in but can't find it anywhere! Thanks to whoever you are!) so I signed us up and we went shopping! We saved $120ish on all this. It still cost just over $500... but I think we did good!

When the rest of the living room is done and rearranged I'll post more pictures!

Visit Money Saving Mom for more Savings this week!

Labels: As God Provides, Home Making

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:50 AM 0 Comments