Where will I be shopping tomorrow?

I plan on not leaving the house.

All my shopping will be done online.

Did you brave the stores?

Fevers and Coughing and Puking, Oh My!

I think this post is gonna be a quick summary of our last few days. Cliff notes style.


Thursday:
Meghan walked into a wall and got a bruise under her eye.*

Friday:
Family picture day! I am always amazed when they manage to get a few shots of the kids standing still and looking at the camera.

Saturday/Sunday**:
Sean got a nasty diaper rash.
Meghan puked.
Sean started to get clingy.

Monday:
I puked.
Sean got a fever. He did not want to eat much and was super clingy all day.

Today:
Meghan is coughing up a storm.
Sean still has a fever
I feel like someone has shoved cotton balls up my nose.
I can hear the cat trying to puke in the corner.
I've decided that going to Meghan's dance class is a bad idea.

Summary:
We are pretty sure that Sean's general unhappiness is because of his teething. I'm trying to keep up with his diaper rash with frequent changes and tons of diaper rash cream.

Not sure if Meghan was really sick or if her issue was caused by not eating dinner the night before and then downing milk in the morning.

I don't know what the hell my problem is but I am hoping it will be cured by drugs and coffee.

I am very behind in laundry because of the puke incident which is going to make packing for our whirlwind Thanksgiving tour fun. I actually had a dream last night that someone told me we we going to Moscow*** and I had to get the family packed to leave in 30 minutes. I was panicking. In my dream. Ugh.

Meghan's supposed to go to preschool today but I plan on making the go/no go call in about 2 hours or so.




*Which is a totally separate incident from when she walked into a doorknob.

**My days are running together. I honestly cannot distinguish one from another.

***I am pretty sure this was influenced by "The Amazing Race".

New favorite quote

"Street smarts is something dumb people say when they want to use the word “smart” to describe themselves."

- Darnell "Crabman" Turner from "My Name is Earl"

Let Me Show You: Meghan's Telescope/Microscope

All Meghan wanted for her birthday was a telescope. That is the only thing she asked for.

I searched online for some type of telescope that she could play with, not too expensive and looked like it would be relatively Meghan-proof.

I came across the following at Amazon. It is both a telescope and play microscope.

Meghan really enjoys playing with this. She can take the telescope off (attached with a magnet) and go on her little adventures. Or, she can use the included slides in the microscope to learn about animals or space or an number of other topics. Once you insert a slide you enter the 3-letter code and it tells you about what you are looking at. She struggles a little with inserting the slides correctly so I help her out with that.

Oh, and a bonus, she can use her headphones.



So the telescope was a winner. Now I have to convince her that she does not want a "big drum" for Christmas.

Wordless Wednesday - One Year Ago

Our Little Daredevil

Sean has no fear. I am not even kidding about that. He will try anything. Climb on anything. Jump off anything. I am constantly cringing as I see him flying through the air out of the corner of my eye. The other day I got some photographic evidence.

"Climbing? This is nothing. Baby stuff."

"I've been doing this for weeks."

"See no hands!"

"Aaaand JUMP!"

I don't know if it is just a boy thing or if this kid is extremely adventurous. But I do know that I am on the verge of having a heart attack.

Anyone know where I can buy a rubber room? Or a pair of footie pjs made out of bubble wrap? Size 18 months, please.

Found Money

Now that I am no longer bringing home a paycheck, I have been trying to find ways to save money. That included looking around for any previously forgotten funds sitting around the house.

Do you have one of these too?


Yup, that is a giant popcorn tin filled with change. It is where we dump change from coat pockets, wallets, cars, etc.

Our bucket o'change has been collecting funds for years now. About 9-ish years ago we went to a bank to count and cash our change in for "real" money. It was kinda a pain in the butt and so we have not done it since. So, there the bucket sat, collecting our daily crumbs of money.

Of course one of the first things I did when we decided I would stay home was look at that change tin. I really did not want to roll them all myself. Also, our local back did not appear to have a counting machine so I did not want to deal with the hassle of finding where I could take it and then spend the time there while it was counted.

Our local supermarket had a Coinstar machine but I had previously eliminated that option because I was not willing to part with a percentage of our money just for the machine to count it. But, I decided to go online and see exactly those machines did and how much they claimed as their own.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that you can choose to convert your change into credits for a number of stores. And, even better, there is NO COUNTING FEE if you chose that option. So you don't have to give up even a penny.

Now I understand that some people won't want this option but it really works for us. One of the choices for store credit was Amazon. I do loads of shopping there. Not only do a number of our family members keep wish lists there for birthday and Christmas gifts, but I also use their Subscribe & Save feature to buy things like diapers and wipes.

So now, every few weeks I take a container of change along with me on my grocery shopping trip. I usually get around $80 of credit each time I go. It feels like we have gotten diapers for free for months!! And, I am hoping to use these credits to get a good portion of our Christmas shopping done.

For those of you looking for a way to save some money this holiday season, perhaps you can "find" some money of your own.

Wordless Wednesday - Whoa!! Too Close!

Well that did not work

I was going to do NaBloPoMo. Where you post a new entry for every day of November. Um, I did not even make it through the first week. Oops!

So, lets just pretend that was never a goal. Okay? Okay!

I do have a few entries sitting and waiting for pictures and a few links here and there. Hope to get them out soon.

On an unrelated topic, last night we had sort of a family fun night. I made all finger food for dinner and set up our downstairs so the kids could sit on the floor and eat. We watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and then played Chutes and Ladders. Meghan won.

And, on another unrelated topic, our desktop computer is infected with about 30 viruses. So I may be busy for awhile.

Wordless Wednesday - Uniqua

Yes, we voted.

(Photo: http://someecards.com)

Weight Check

We headed to the doctors (again) today for Sean's weight check.

21 lbs 10 ounces


I was disappointed after his Growth and Nutrition appointment last month. I was really hoping that he would have gained enough weight so that we did not need to go anymore. They really did not have any more helpful suggestions on how to get him to gain weight. So, I am going with the proven method of eating junk and sitting in front of the TV. Always works for me.

It also helps to stay in your pjs all day long.

Another Sunday, another kids event

Last weekend: Baby Loves Disco
Today: Playhouse Disney

I was going to get tickets to see the Wiggles next weekend but I think Ryan would have killed me. Three weekends in a row to a bit much for anyone to take.

Today's show was actually pretty good. Meghan and Sean sat still the whole time. Well, for the most part. Sean got restless whenever the characters were not singing a song.

Our seats were great and we were in and out of there in about an hour and a half.

Halloween is over. Time for the next holiday.

Requisite cute jammie shot.

Is it just me or does it seem like it is just one holiday after another this time of year? There is barely enough time to breathe in between.

I feel like I kinda just winged it this Halloween. Only put up half of the decoration. Did not do some of the projects I wanted to. Took the easy way out on carving the pumpkins.

No mess pumpkins.

But that did not matter to the kids. They had a blast trick-or-treating. I tried to get a few pictures. It is getting increasingly difficult to get them both in the same shot. Neither one of them ever sits still.

Taken just before Sean bolted.

MONKEY!!!

And they're off!

"Wait, what do I do?"

Now it is time to take all the decorations down and start to think about Christmas cards and wish lists. It is making me a wee bit dizzy.