ipod

This was my "big" (haha, get it?) Christmas present this year....

A 3rd generation ipod nano that Anthony got from craigslist for $35. Yeah! Go Anthony! I am so proud of my hubby. He did good.

I am SO enjoying it (minus Nelly Furtado) and can't believe I didn't have one of these sooner! So, what's on your ipod that I NEED to have on mine?

Bailey "Stats"

I realized I haven't given an update on what Bailey is saying and doing these days, so I thought I would do that, since I am still in "birthday mode".

* She started really walking, basically full-time about a week and a half ago, at 11 1/2 months old. We thought it was funny because she kind of went from just taking a few steps here and there to full-out walking in one day. No transition really, she just decided she was going to walk, and she did. She was the same way when she started crawling. I wonder if these kind of things are indicative of her personality?

*She says duck, mama, dada, cheese, night-night, tickle, no (she is VERY good at this one, ha), hi, la-la, elmo, mmm (like yummy). Of course, a couple of these are her own version of the word, and only Anthony or I know what she is trying to say. I'm sure you know what I mean if you are a parent. :)

*She has no fear. She likes to stand on her riding toys and throw herself around on our bed, nearly falling. Thank goodness for parents who are quick. :)

*She is definitely a mama's girl, but LOVES to horseplay and play rough with her daddy.

* We are always getting comments on what a good baby she is, and generally she is, especially when we are out somewhere, or if she is with someone else besides me. Not that she is bad when she is with me, but she's just more needy when she is with me. But like I said, she is SUCH a good girl when I leave her with anyone.

* She is nursing less these days, but it is still definitely her main source of nutrition. I'm currently debating on if/when I want to start weaning her, or just let her do it on her own timetable (don't misread that, I'm not going to be one of those mothers who breastfeed their four year old!).

* She still does not sleep through the night. A normal night right now for her involves waking and nursing twice. It would be nice if she would learn to sleep through the night, but I'm not concerned or pushing the issue with her. I know she will eventually.

* She goes to bed around 8:00 pm and gets up between 7:00 and 8:00 am.

* She loves other kids and babies. She just grins from ear to ear whenever she sees one.

* She normally takes 2 naps a day and has gotten MUCH better with naps than she used to be. A typical nap for her is usually around 1 1/2 hours I would say, but sometimes is more, sometimes less.

* She has two teeth on top, and three on bottom, one of which JUST popped through.

* We are using up the last of our size 3 diapers and then she'll be in size 4's. Most mothers probably would have put her in size 4's a while ago, but she has a frugal mother who pushed size 3's as far as they could go since diapers get more expensive the bigger they get! :)

* She wears some 12-18 month clothes and some 18-24 month, depending on the brand.

* She is the light of our lives and we are just head over heels in love with her. I am so proud to be her mama. I look forward to every day with this precious little gift from God.

One Year Old

Dear Bailey Anne,

How is it possible that we are here, one year from the moment you took your first breath and forever changed our lives by entering this world?



I anticipated your arrival for so long, and sometimes, even now, I wish I could go back and replay the entire day of your birth, pain and all! Somehow, the intensity of the pain, the nervousness about having a c-section, and the sheer exhaustion from laboring for 18 hours have all diminished in my mind.



But the sound of your first cry, the tear of joy that ran down my cheek, and the feeling of a tiny baby cradled in my arms are forever imprinted in my mind.



I naively had no clue what I was getting myself into when I had you. The first days and weeks were hard, but my heart just overflowed with love for you. I never knew love like this until I had you. You, Bailey, I would give my very life for.

You have grown and changed so much over the past year. I see you becoming a beautiful, happy, obedient, charming, loving, wonderful little person. I could not have picked a child more perfectly suited to myself. You have taught me so much about life, patience, and unconditional love. You have most definitely changed my life for the better.

I am so glad that God chose you for our family. I love you, Bailey Anne.

Love,

Mama

Happy Birthday Bailey!

My baby is ONE today!

Here is the link to her birth story if anyone cares to go back and read it again. :) I sure do!

One Year Ago

Please ignore the enormously fat face, but focus on the wonderful baby bump! This was one year ago on Christmas day, two days before Bailey was born. :) I am reminiscing a lot this weekend.

Vanilla Sugar's Poor Man's Toffee

So I came across this recipe somehow, I can't even remember how anymore, but, boy oh boy, was it YUMMY and easy to make. You can go here to get the recipe and see her pics, but I just had to take some pics while I was making it, cause it was just so darn fun.

It starts with Cheez-It's.... I know, sounds weird, but trust Dawn on this one... once it's all done, you really can't specifically taste the Cheez-It's, just mainly the saltiness, which is just perfect.




The butter and brown sugar thickening...




Toasting the pecans....




The melty ooey gooeyness of pure milk chocolate...




The finished product...




Okay, now go get a tissue to wipe your drool off the keyboard, and please, go to the website and get started on your own batch of this, cause goodness knows, ours is all gone!

Wordless Wednesday

Last Week's Deals

I don't think I shared about my 2 great deals I got last week, and I am still so excited about them I just had to share!

Martin's had Nestle morsels on sale for $1.69, which is the lowest price I've seen them at, and I had $1.00 off coupons, so I got 4 bags for 69 cents a piece! With all the baking I've been doing, it was great to get these so cheap.




And Kroger had basic Lunchables on sale for $1.00 a piece, and I had 55 cents off coupons, so I got quite a few lunchables for only 45 cents! I am eating these for lunches.... can't get much cheaper for a lunch than that!

Money Saving Mom Giveaway

Money Saving Mom is doing a giveaway of 5 $100 gift cards and you get to pick your own gift card. Wouldn't this be fantastic to win?! Go enter here if you are interested, though I don't mind if you don't enter so it would be more chances for me to win. :) Haha.

Busy Weekend

Well, here we are, week before Christmas! I can't believe how fast time seems to fly now. I just read, maybe on facebook, today where someone said "The days are long, but the years are short". How true that is.

I had a super busy weekend. Friday I was babysitting Marcy's girls all day. While Bailey took her morning nap, Elli, Karly, and I made cookies. :) We had a fun day together, but wow, is 3 little girls so much more work than one little girl! I am exhausted when I leave there.

After babysitting I headed straight to church for our Trek Christmas Party. We had a good turnout and there was lots of yummy food and fun. I stayed there till close to 8, when I headed to Mom's so I could get Bailey to bed. The two of us stayed over at Mom's on Friday night because I had to be to the church at 8:00 am to supervise detention.

So detention was from 8:00 to 1:00.... ugh. I really don't enjoy doing it too much, but it's a good way for me to make a little money, so I do it anyways! It's a good reminder of why I quit teaching! Haha. Whenever I start to miss it, I just need to hang out with some pre-teens/teenagers for a little while! :)

After detention, I headed back to Mom's to grab some lunch and get Bailey. We had a couple of down time hours at home and then Saturday evening, Mom, Ashley, James, and Zoe came over and brought pizza and the Wii. So we ate, played, and had fun!

Sunday was church of course. Then lunch at Mom's. After lunch Mom's SS class had their Christmas Party/gift exchange, which they invite anyone to, so Ashley and I went as well. Then at 5:00 we went to the Christmas get-together for the SS class which we would attend if we didn't help in youth group on Sunday mornings. We ate at Massaki.. yum!

Whew! I am tired just from talking about my busy weekend. I have a couple things planned for this week but also planning to do some baking, hopefully cleaning (if I can get motivated), and just hanging out at home with Bailey. I think I'm mostly done with my Christmas shopping, now I just need to get wrapping.

Kelly Giveaway

Just found out Kelly is giving away one of the HP Touchsmarts as well. I wish these companies would contact me to do giveaways! :) Anyways, you can enter her giveaway here.

MckMama Giveaway

If you haven't already done so, go here to enter MckMama's giveaway for an HP Touchsmart. This thing looks awesome!

Wordless Wednesday

Tyson

As many of you already know, Tyson went home to be with Jesus on Friday (November 27) after his 17 month long battle with a brain tumor.

He was diagnosed when he was only 9 months old. I remember 2 months ago, when Bailey turned 9 months old, and thinking that she was the same age as he was when they found out about the tumor. Of course, I was around when he was first diagnosed, but I just can't remember him very well at that age for some reason, and it absolutely broke my heart to think about such a little baby being handed such a hard lot in life.

So many times throughout this entire year, I have wondered "Why Tyson? Why Summer and Jeremy? Why not Bailey? Why not us?". How does God decide who these things happen to? Did He give this trial to them because He knew they could handle it so beautifully and even point others to Him in the process? Or was it just random that Summer & Jeremy were given this trial? I don't have the answer to any of these questions and I think it's probably better that way.

However, I do know that I am thankful, that today, I have a healthy, happy 11 month old. I don't know what the next months and years, or even tomorrow will hold, but I will choose to be thankful that I have today with my husband and my daughter. I will choose to love deeper, forgive easily, hug tighter, and kiss more frequently so that I will please God and honor Tyson with my life.

I also know that I am a better mother because of Tyson. In those early days of Bailey's life, when the only way she would sleep was for me to hold her, instead of getting frustrated and angry, I chose to be thankful that I had a baby to hold. Even now, when she still wakes up twice a night to nurse, I choose to be appreciative that I have a baby to comfort and nourish.

And finally, I know that God is good. Even when I cannot comprehend His ways; even when it makes no sense to me to take a child from his mother; even when so many hearts are breaking, God is still good. Good and bad are not determined to be so by my interpretation of the circumstances around me. God IS the definition of all that is good and right. Whatever HE chooses to do, THAT is the good thing, the right thing.

Tyson's celebration of life service was Saturday evening. Since then, when thinking or talking about it, several times I have started to call it a "funeral" but I just can't call it that. A funeral, to me, is a time of sadness and mourning, and Tyson's service didn't really quite fit that definition. While there was definitely sadness, it was an amazing time of worship and celebration. I really have never been to a "funeral" quite like this one before. The grace and peace of God was so amazingly evident in the family; from Tyler's (Tyson's uncle) Gospel presentation, to Jeremy's (Tyson's daddy) charge to us to honor Tyson, to Summer (Tyson's mommy) raising her hands in praise to God.

I can't understand the kind of grace that God has poured out on this family, because I have never had the need to experience it. However, I know this grace and peace straight from God do exist because of the evidence in this family's life. We sing "Amazing Grace" but I really think that most of us (including myself) don't fully understand the depths and scope of God's amazing grace, until we experience something that has the potential to be life-shattering. God, in His great love and mercy, has faithfully chosen to walk with this family through this valley and make Himself so evident to them, even in times of tribulation. I am so glad I serve this God.

Even though we do not need to pray for Tyson anymore, as he is far better than any of us now, his precious family still needs our prayers in the coming day and months. The pain of losing a child does not end when the child's life does. I'm sure Summer and Jeremy, though they are walking in God's grace, will face some dark days in the coming months. And Carson and Kaylynn, being so young, will need understanding that comes from the Lord as to why they cannot play with their little brother anymore. So I encourage you to continue to pray with me for the Woody family.

Tyson, as a 2 year old precious little boy, has made more of an impact than most people make in a lifetime.

To see all the updates and emails about Tyson, during his entire journey, click here.

And be sure to check out Thinking of Tyson, which has been set up for people to honor Tyson by sharing their stories about how he impacted their lives.

Kroger

I also went to Kroger today and here are the deals I got there...

2 cans of Grand's biscuits: 55 cents each

2 cans of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls: $1.07 each

2 bottles of Coffeemate Creamer: $1.50 each

2 tubes of Crest Toothpaste: 38 cents each

Half Gallon of Milk: $1.50

2 packs of Tyson Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: $7.14 (1.88/lb)

And my favorite deal... 1 package of Buitoni Rivera pasta that was on Manager's Clearance for $1.50 and I had $1.00 off coupon, so I got it for 50 cents... regular price was $4 something!

Total for everything: $17.77

That doesn't seem like it's very good, but if I take away the chicken, then I feel better about myself. :)

Martin's

Got some great deals at Martin's today....

2 boxes of Betty Crocker cake mix: $1.00 each

2 cans of Betty Crocker frosting: 39 cents each

2 jars of Ragu pasta sauce: $1.07 each

3 bottles of Wish Bone Ranch Dressing: FREE!

4 Bags of Lipton Sides: 50 cents each

2 boxes of Maruchan noodle dinners: FREE! (I actually made 10 cents on these!)

2 jars of Hellman's Light Mayo: $2.39 each

Total for all this and tax, plus $1 for Children's Miracle Network (I thought of Tyson when the girl asked, so I couldn't say no!): $14.90

I was especially proud of my free stuff. :) And speaking of Tyson, I am working on a post about him, processing my thoughts and how he has changed me. Stay tuned for that.