July 4th

We spent the 4th of July at the lake with my parents, grandparents, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Tim, and cousins Katie and Timothy. We kept busy boating, playing golf (I swear I'm playing better golf pregnant - go figure), swimming at the pool, eating, playing on the playground, and taking golf cart rides. We were worn out when we got home Tuesday!Warner "driving" the boat. With the exception of his life jacket he really seems to like the boat. He loved watching Timothy and his friend Dan learn to barefoot as well as my dad skiing and barefooting. I can't wait until Warner is old enough to learn to ski.Swimming with Dad in the lake.
Playing with Grandpa.The best family picture we could get. I look a little scary but my mom and I now have a rule that makeup is not allowed at the lake. It's wonderful.Fireworks for the 4th. Warner wasn't too sure about the sparklers at first ...... but after a few minutes he wanted us to keep lighting more for him.More fun in the golf cart. I'm really not sure what the appeal is with golf carts but Warner can't get enough of them.Dad and his Caddy.
Warner's new preferred way to ride in our golf cart.

Funny

Warner has worn out this tired, pregnant Mama lately. His time-out chair gets plenty of use due to frequent throwing, hitting, and general temper-tantrums. So I'm thankful that he's really cute and really funny to make up for it.We had some of Kevin's Fidelity co-workers over for a cookout a few weeks ago. Kristy brought cupcakes and Warner ate two (surprise). Kevin got this picture in the middle of Warner signing "thank you". At least he's polite.

He loves all things outside, including sidewalk chalk. However, he finds drawing on his feet and arms equally as appealing as the sidewalk.
He frequently pushes things around in his umbrella stroller. On this day he was taking his blue bouncy ball for a ride between dips in the baby pool.Jumping is one of Warner's newest discoveries. He's been "jumping" off the brick on our fireplace for a while (it's about 3 inches off the ground). Recently he's learned how to jump off the ground. He stretches his arms in the air, gets on his tip-toes, and them lifts off the ground about an inch. When he lands, he squats down - I guess so he feels like he's jumped higher. This is my favorite. Kevin has taught Warner a few funny faces and Warner does them all the time now. This picture doesn't really capture the face, but gives you an idea. He'll call my name to get my attention, then make the face until I laugh, and then he'll laugh too. He usually then says "Daddy" since Daddy was the one who taught him the face and does the faces with him. What a crazy kid.

Fun with cousins

We spent the weekend at the lake with Kevin's sister and her family. Warner had a blast and even slept in the bunk bed room with Abby and Ashley like a big kid.
We spent a lot of time at the park ...... and of course on the golf carts. This was taken on our way home from the pool for lunch and nap time. Warner wasn't too happy to be leaving the pool.Warner picking up rings in the baby pool.On his way to get a snack. Swimming makes you very hungry.
We roasted marshmallows on Saturday morning ... it didn't work out to do it at night, but the kids enjoyed them for breakfast just the same. I think Warner ate 6 before we had to cut him off.
Uncle Billy got the fire started while Abby, Ashley, and Warner looked for sticks for roasting.
This was before we left on Thursday - Kevin was sharing his milkshake with Warner (or maybe the other way around). Check out the bear slippers. Warner has been obsessed with them for a few days now - he pulls them out of his closet and asks me to put them on him. He refused to take them off on Thursday so we went to the grocery with them on, and all the way to the lake, too.
I remember wearing slippers to class in college, so I guess he gets it honest. They do look comfy.

Weekend Pictures

A few pictures from our weekend:Warner decided he'd like to wear a hat like Daddy on Saturday. Here he is eating a snack before heading to the zoo. Check out the "atch's" (ouches) on his legs. In case you weren't sure, he's one busy guy.Watching the elephants. I think they might have been his favorite this time because they were very close and easy to see. He also tries to make an elephant sound when he sees them.
Ah, but the ducks are still his favorite. Forget all of the exotic, foreign animals. Warner wanted to stop to see the ducks in every pond at the zoo.
A few months ago I put Warner's socks on my hands to be silly and played puppets with them. Today he got some socks out and wanted me to put them on his hands. He kept them on for hours, including during his nap. It was hilarious.

Big Boy Bed Part 2

I'm afraid I spoke too soon when I proudly announced a successful transition to Warner's big boy bed.

Thursday night we had some of Kevin's coworkers over for dinner. Warner stayed up later than usual and had a bunch of sugar right before bed. About 10 minutes after we put him down, Kevin and I were in the kitchen cleaning up and we heard a noise in the living room. I panicked, thinking someone had broken into the house or perhaps we had an animal inside. We went to investigate and found Warner playing with his popcorn popper toy, in the dark, in the living room. We took him back to his bed and repeated this process about 5 more times until we put a baby gate at his door. That really ticked him off but worked.

Unfortunately this wasn't a one-time occurrence. Each night since he's repeated the getting-out-of-bed-game. So, we've started putting the baby gate up each time we put him down. He checks each night to be sure it's there, screams when he realizes he's stuck in his room (sometimes even slams the door shut), and then crawls back into bed and goes to sleep.

Oh, what fun it is to raise a toddler.

Big boy bed

Warner's move from the crib to his big boy bed has been much easier than I anticipated. He is in the same room, we just moved furniture around. He wasn't upset about the changes in the least.

The first time he slept in the new bed was naptime Monday. He took his regular 2.5+ hour nap then got out the bed, left his room and shut the door behind him, and came to find me. He was so excited he was running and smiling the whole way. He's only crawled out of bed during naptime once, and that was before he went to sleep when he wasn't interested in napping. Other than that it's been smooth sailing. I hope this continues!My mom made all of the bedding and the window treatment, and we painted our old guest room furniture to match. I still have some work to do, including finding a few things for the walls and recovering the lamp shades with leftover bedding fabric. But for the most part it's finished. Now we just have to get the nursery ready ...An action shot from last night. I have bedrails on both sides of the bed since I'm paranoid about him falling out. I've already found him sleeping parallel to the headboard twice so I think they were a good investment. I can't believe how quickly our little boy is growing up.

Hand washing and time-outs

I found Warner here after I asked him to play by himself while I prepared lunch. I generally keep the bathroom door shut to avoid this scenario ...Obviously he's not washing his hands, he's splashing water everywhere. He managed to splash water on nearly every surface of the bathroom, including the walls. Now that Warner has his own step stool the bathroom is a very fun place to play.
I also bought this time-out chair when I got his step stool. Unfortunately we end up using it but not as often as I'd expected. I don't have a picture of him in time-out so you'll just have to imagine him crying, red-faced, totally peeved, and swinging his little legs while sitting in the chair. Priceless.

Woodson Bend

We spent last week at the lake. Well, I say "the lake" but I've only been on the lake once this year. We've kept ourselves busy on land since I can't ski pregnant and riding in a bumpy boat is uncomfortable. I really need to time my pregnancies better - this is the second water skiing season I've missed and it's killing me.

Warner and I arrived last Sunday evening and we were joined by MaNell, Emme, my mom, and her sisters Debbie and Kathy. It's so fun to be at Woodson Bend this year because Warner loves it so much. Each morning we'd take him on a golf cart ride to look for deer, fox, gophers, etc. He was also very interested in all of the mowers (mo's as he says), trucks (ucks), and water. Each time we'd see a deer he'd sign and say the word "more" - as if to say "that was nice Mom, but let's keep going". We also spent our fair share of time at the playground and the pool.Warner was so brave at the pool - he'd "jump" in off the side - sort of fall into my arms - then would have me take him to the ladder to climb out by himself and start all over again.Unfortunately we had a few days of rain so Warner and Emme played with the pool toys on the screened porch. It was almost as fun as the real thing.Emme sharing her toys with Warner.
The girls left Thursday and Kevin arrived later that afternoon. My dad arrived Friday so we had some time with just my parents which was nice. Kevin and I took Warner on a golf cart ride one evening and ended up playing a few holes ourselves. Warner was in charge of the tees (pictured above) and even putted a few times. Each time he'd hit the ball he'd drop the club and start clapping for himself.Saturday we celebrated my birthday and Warner couldn't get enough of the cake. Honestly, I couldn't either.My boys + cake. What could be better?

Memorial Day

We headed to Somerset for Memorial Day weekend. We arrived Thursday afternoon and stayed with Kevin's parents until Saturday morning, then moved to my parents' condo until Monday. We must have had a blast because I apparently didn't have time to take many pictures. Here are a few:
Warner petting Cameron. We realized he is definitely allergic to dogs this trip. We've suspected it for a while - after petting them he generally gets a bad face rash and his eyes sometimes even swell nearly shut. But that doesn't keep him from playing with them. I'm convinced once he can speak in sentences he'll be begging for a dog. Warner petting Cameron again. You can't tell in this picture, but Cameron has a spot on her shoulder that was shaved and has stitches - the vet took a biopsy of a growth she has but it was thankfully just a fatty deposit (those fatty deposits happen to the best of us I suppose). Anyway, Warner would point to the stitches and say "ouch", then find any other "ouches" on other people or his on his knees.Eating blueberries at the condo while watching Mickey Mouse in the morning. This kid loves blueberries more than anyone I know. And eating them from the container while watching TV was just bliss for this little boy.

We also took Warner on a brief boat ride. He loved it at first, he laughed and smiled but quickly got bored. I think if he would have gotten in the lake he would have liked it better. And Warner LOVED the golf cart at the condo. Well, really the whole Woodson Bend setup: between the playground, pool, golf cart, and other outdoor playing he was in heaven. This should be a fun summer at the lake.

Kevin and I also got to play golf - I got in 27 holes and Kevin got in quite a bit more, and some new wedges to boot, so I think it's safe to say he enjoyed the weekend as well. We'll be back again next week with MaNell, Emme, Aunt Debbie, and my Mom so I'll try to take more pictures then.

Texas

Warner and I finally made the trip to visit my parents in Texas. Since Kevin doesn't have enough vacation days to travel like Warner and I do (ha) and my grandparents wanted to visit my parents, we decided to make the trip together. Although if felt as if we drove across the entire continental US (Kevin has since reminded me it was only four states) we survived the 14+ hour drive. Thanks to our newly installed DVD player and lots of attention from my grandparents, Warner was a very good traveler.We split up the drive both ways with a hotel stay overnight. Warner loved the luggage carts. Once we arrived Warner was spoiled by Grammie and Grandpa. My mom has a whole room for Warner at her house and it even came stocked with toys. He was in heaven. Here are a few pictures from our trip:Playing in Grammie's sink. Who would have known this would be so fun? More water fun: the fountain. Warner would have us lift him up so he could play in the top part of the fountain. Between the sink and this he was quite entertained.We went to Fort Worth to the stockyards one afternoon to see their "live cattle drive". It was actually pretty neat - they drive the cows right down the middle of the street.Warner got to see the cows and the horses. He liked petting the horses until they started making noises, and then he wasn't so sure.With Grammie at the stockyards.Playing the piano with Grandpa. I pray Warner has inherited my Dad's musical abilities!
Doing some work at Grandpa's office. We went to my Dad's work to visit and meet his coworkers one evening. Of course Warner decided to fill his diaper as soon as we got there, so he's probably known at Parago as the stinky kid.Taking a ride in Grammie and Grandpa's new convertible. Wow did he think this was fun. He laughed the entire time we drove.Wearing Grammie's sunglasses (upside down of course) in the car. What a cool guy.
I believe Warner has my parents right where he wants them.

Coupons

Since I stay home now, I feel part of my job is to run our household more efficiently. This mostly means trying to save money. A friend of mine introduced me to couponing last summer and I have been hooked ever since.

I buy multiple newspapers each Sunday and print coupons online. I have a huge three-ring binder that holds all of my neatly clipped and organized coupons in plastic photo holders (there are even dividers - frozen foods, personal care items, etc.). Sunday night I scour my favorite blogs that match weekly store sales with coupons and then make my grocery list for the week based on that. I hope to get better at tracking just how much I spend and save each month, but I know we're close to $350-400 each month for groceries, which includes diapers.

Today I went three different places for sales - Kroger, Meijer, and CVS. Since we're leaving for Dallas tomorrow we didn't really need anything immediately - so, I just stocked up on the good sale items. I got:

- 6 boxes of Kellogg's cereal for $1 each.
- Four packages of frozen Voila! meals - $2 each.
- Four bottles of Kraft BBQ sauce - free.
- Four boxes of Quaker chewy granola bars - $1.50 each.
- Two bottles of Listerine total care - $1.79 each.
- Four packages of Kleenex - $1 each. (Not a great deal but we needed them)

So, I spent a total of $27.58 for all of this. The regular price for these items is roughly $69, so I saved 41.42, or 60%. I have been amazed at the weeks where I'll get items for free (like the BBQ sauce) or nearly free - I have a bin in the basement full of Lysol cleaning supplies that I paid .25-.50 for.

However, all of this couponing and shopping at multiple stores is quite time consuming. I'd say I spend 5+ hours each week clipping, organizing, researching sales, and shopping. So is it worth it? I'm not sure. And I do feel sort of funny in the grocery store carrying around my binder of coupons. We had a speaker at MOPS who teaches couponing classes and coined the phrase: "if she's shopping with a binder, don't get behind her". Very true. It takes me forever to get through a store.

But for now, I feel like I'm helping our family ... and sometimes getting away with something. Free food. Who would have known?

Grammie

Since my parents now live nearly 1000 miles away, it often feels like we never see them. Thankfully we both have Mac's and we video chat fairly often in addition to talking on the phone. Warner has just begun to like video chatting, and recognizes my mom's face on the computer screen when we talk to her.
This morning I was telling Warner that we were going to see Grammie soon (we're going to Dallas later this week for our first visit to Texas), and asked him if he wanted to see Grammie. He looked at me, said "Grammie?" (well, his version of Grammie which really sounds nothing like Grammie) then took my hand to have me follow him. He walked straight to the computer and pointed at it. I told him it was too early to video chat, but he kept pointing to the screen, so I pulled up a picture of my mom. He immediately smiled and started waving to the screen, saying "hi" (which comes out "hi-eee"). Apparently, he thinks my mom lives in the computer. I'm sure he'll be happy to see the real thing later this week.