recent conversations

me: "Levi, what are we going to do when we get home?"

Levi: "shoes off, pants off" (shortly followed by) "lunch, milk-cup, nap"

(all true, and in order, by the way!)

me: "Levi, what did you learn about at VBS today?"

Levi "JESUS!"

me: "who made the bunnies (part of a song they sing)

Levi: "JESUS!"

me: "who took you to the potty at VBS today?"

Levi: "JESUS!"

(unfair, but so cute!)

in the car...

me: "Levi, it's time to be all done whining and crying, please use your words."

Levi: "NO, MORE!"

me: "more whining and crying?"

Levi: (continues said unreasonable whining and fussing)

me: "Levi, all done whining, we're almost home"

Levi: "MORE!!"

me: "Levi, is mommy having a boy or a girl?"

Levi: "no, a baby"

me: "yes sweetie, but will it be a baby boy or a baby girl?"

Levi: "a bunny"

Me: "Levi, what does mommy want you to do if you wake up while you're still supposed to be resting?

Levi: "not stand up"

I realize that needs a little context: Lately I've been reminding him that if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he needs to roll over and go back to sleep. Apparently he also remembers something ELSE I told him to do - or rather NOT to do - a few nights back when he awoke in the middle of the night and I found him standing up in his crib (not such a safe feat for a very very tall toddler). He's been thoroughly obedient though, I must say.

naptime is over - more later

potty progress and the FULL week ahead

Well, since I last blogged we've come a looooooooong way (or maybe just what seems like a long way) in the potty department. Levi has started (gasp) telling us when he needs to go - sometimes even when we're out and about.

Last week he spent an afternoon at daycare with a friend (while I went to my 16 week pre-natal, and got a much-needed haircut) and stayed dry all afternoon. This came much to my surprise because I thought surely he'd have an accident the moment I left him someplace without a potty out in plain sight. Apparently not so. Away from home he's been doing a phenomenal job of using the big toilet (with a toddler seat on top) and doing so for people other than his folks no less.

This past Sunday I took a deep breath and sent him to Sunday school in underpants and returned (again surprised) to find him dry. This week he'll be at VBS every morning and so far, with one day down, things are looking high and dry!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention a few lessons I've learned in the past week or so. First, I should never (ever) again give my son a cup of anything, even boring water, to sip on in the car. This is ESPECIALLY true if we're in someone else's car :) and even more true when that special someone else has a DVD player going. Three accidents into our garage saling expedition, I learned my lesson. To the toddler's credit, he did tell me he had to go - but it was not in time for me to remove him from his seat and place him on the potty. He's really been a champ though.

Our full week, which began today with VBS, will continue with a cheesemaking week for Jonathan. Pre-dawn mornings and late nights will punctuate his schedule - and if you have a spouse that works long hours you know what kind of a stressful effect that can have on family life. But I am fully aware that, for many families, long irregular hours are the norm. I am so grateful that is not the case for our family, and that my hard-working husband ordinarily has a very regular schedule that allows him to be home with us for dinner. This week may seem very long indeed, but at least it's only this week (and the week after next, and about 9 more of them before Christmas comes, but who's counting?)

I tried my darndest to post some adorable pictures on my blog the other day but blogger has been fighting with me tooth and nail. Instead I posted them on facebook, so hopefully you can enjoy them there. My effort to take pictures of our family happenings has been pitaful as of late, and I'm sorry to say we've missed photographing a few recent events including a delightful working farm/school we visited this past weekend. Levi adored the horses they had there, as well as the chickens, and ducks, and the one skiddish peacock. He's forever curious - and now talking a blue streak about his curiousities - occasionally in full sentences, which never ceases to amaze me.

If you don't live in the Midwest, now is not the best time to visit (although arguably better than, say, mid January). We're experiencing a daily heat index of 115 - which is mostly tolerable inside my air conditioned home. In my basement. Jokes aside though, I do love this hot weather. It keeps me going during the dark freeze of winter.

I'll have more to say later in the week when I have my thoughts together. Jonathan and I are reading a very interesting book together that I need to blog about. It's written by a skeptic, that's all I'll say for now. Adios!

for those of you who've been there

I have some potty training questions. First, here's where we're at:

When we're at home Levi goes bottomless. He decides when he needs to go potty. He sits down, and does his business. When he's done, he gets up. It's simple really.

When we're out I take him to the potty ever hour. He usually goes. If we happen to be between errands, I take his potty seat in the car and let him empty his bladder in the back of our subaru somewhere in the parking lot. He likes this set up, I don't mind it.

But...

I'd rather not drag the potty chair around. Added to that is the fact that I'd like him to be comfortable going potty on a regular toilet - currently, he is not happy to do so, even when there's a toddler seat on said toilet. He will, however, hold it until he can make it to a more "Levi approved" potty chair. The rub in all this is that I'm volunteering at VBS in a couple weeks, and Levi will be taken to the potty by someone other than his mom or dad, to sit on a real toilet with a toddler seat.

My concern is 2-fold. First, since we've only been doing this two weeks, he's used to being bottomless and having his potty at his immediate disposal right smack dab in the middle of the living room. Not so at VBS. Second, when we do have to use a potty elsewhere, he's used to mom and dad taking him. He simply would not produce anything for the loving nursery worker who tried to take him last Sunday (but peed a river 5 minutes later in his potty in the back of our car once church was over). Hmm...

Suggestions?

Oh, and the whole pants thing... how do I teach him to pull his pants down? That's a toughie.

A long awaited update

There is so much that has gone on in the past - oh - four+ months that it may take me a week of continuous blogging to recall all of it. Seriously, a veritable mountain of change in our lives. I'm lucky, however, that you may know a lot of it if we keep up with each other on facebook. If that's the case, nothing here will shock you, but will rather just fill in the blanks.

I'll add pictures at a later date as my camera is conveniently at a friend's house, in the depths of the diaper bag I left there this morning. Shame on mommy.

Ok, first things first. we're expecting again*! Our joy overflows! (It occurs to me that feelings and exclamations cannot properly or adequately be transmitted over the bloggosphere, but you get my sentiment).

*once a day I get a chance to blog. that time happens to coincide with the once a day that my toddler sleeps, which also happens to be the time I was also taking a much needed nap. Every. Day. Therein lies my non-blogging excuse.

We're due around the New Year, and we'll find out what we're having in mid-August. Although I am into my second trimester I am still sick-sick-sick. In my pregnancy with Levi my morning (ahem, ALL DAY) sickness was totally gone by now, but as they say, "every pregnancy is different" right? I remain reasonably hopeful my poor ailing stomach will even it's keel soon. If not I guess our eating-out bill will grow and grow as I simply can't stomach cooking ANYTHING that makes my house smell like ANYTHING at all. Truly.

There are so very many more things I could say about this pregnancy (especially because we conceived so very soon, and so very much to our surprise, after our March loss) but I'll leave most of that for future posts. Suffice to say I'm certainly reserved, although excited; I'm paranoid, but peaceful; I'm afraid, but also very sure that this pregnancy (like the two which preceded it) belongs fully to my Heavenly Father who makes no mistakes, and does not act on whims. Amen.

Levi turned 2 on May 28th, Hooray! Grandma Jen came for the celebration which consisted of a dual party for he and his best pal Teague in our back yard - complete with sprinkler running and the blow-up pool. Loads of fun for any 2-year old. Levi reveled in the gifts he was generously given, including the delightful tool-bench I found at goodwill a few months back. He's our little builder now and the saying holds true "to the toddler with a hammer, the whole world's a nail"

Not two weeks later Levi weaned - I was 10 weeks pregnant at that point, and more than willing to be DONE nursing. Nursing hurts when you happen to be pregnant, a fact I did not fully understand until I was in the middle of it. So, one evening (Levi was only nursing once a day, just before bed) I suggested to Levi that we snuggle instead of having "milk time" and he agreed. Wow, I really expected that to be a bone of contention, but apparently he was as ready as I was.

Soon after (or was it before - I'm losing track) I embarked upon jam-splosion-2011. You may remember my 2010 edition? Well, I created 42 sticky pints of delicious strawberry jam for just under $60, a feat I'm more than proud of - especially considering how sick I felt whilste making said jam. And it turned out great, just ask my friend Kim, who bought a few jars for her family to enjoy. Although my jam extravaganza was just as messy this year as it was last year, I spread it out over a week instead of doing it all in two days. MUCH BETTER OPTION. Just sayin'.

I'm sure there are more things that have happend between all that stuff and this, but Levi decided almost two weeks ago to be all done with diapers. Friends, I will be completely honest with you and admit I used to scoff at parents who attempted to get their kids out of diapers early in their second year. And then, a little strong willed two-year-old of my own refused to wear his one morning. I agreed that he could go au-natural as long as he sat on his potty and made a deposit every 30 minutes. He abliged, and the rest is history. I remain attached to the notion that this was HIS idea, because SURELY, I would have to be CRAZY to think I could force any child, let alone my strong-willed 2-year-old, to put his waste anywhere he didn't want it to be. Whew.

Potty training has been an unreasonably easy road for Levi (and as such, for us as parents) and if you want any more details I'm happy to share. I have no tricks though, save a few pieces of sweet reward (m&m for urine, gummy worm for poop). We now use one diaper each day (night time) and it is occasionally dry in the morning if I get to him soon enough. I had NO CLUE little bodies were capable of holding it so long. I'M NOT EVEN capable of holding it that long. Just sayin'.

The weather in Nebraska has taken a turn for the HOT, as per usual around here. We're enjoying 90-100 degree temps and hanging out by our wading pool under the shade of the giant silver maple that I spend all fall cleaning up after. That tree, man, I despise it from September to December, but it sure is nice to have during the summer. We've also spent time with friends at their various pools and back yard sprinklers. My child continues his affinity for all things wet - we refer to him often as our little fish. He'll happily dish out the splashes, but he can take 'em too.

Most recently we spent the 4th of July holiday at a local parade with friends of ours - it was so fun to watch the change in Levi since last year - this year he RAN for the candy being thrown from each float. He grinned at all the fire trucks and motorcycles, and other assorted vehicle floats that passed us by (last year, by contrast, he wailed). Of course all of that made for a very tuckered out little boy who took a delightfully long nap before we went to our neighbors' home for a picnic dinner complete with ice-cream sundaes.

The longer we live here the more grateful we are for the collection of friends we've made. Summertime, and all the fun togetherness that comes with it, makes it even more enjoyable to be raising a family here in Lincoln.

Have I forgotten anything? Oh, yes indeed, about a billion pictures; Ultrasound pictures, birthday pictures, parade pictures, petting local livestock pictures, and pictures of very many other varieties. They'll come, in time, as I re-gain the energy I'm quite sure I used to have. Having some semblance of appetite wouldn't hurt my energy needs either, but I'm guessing that will return eventually also. Here's hoping anyhow :)

Tightwad Tuesday: "One Man's Trash" (alternately titled: Oh no she didn't!)

I don't clip coupons.

Let me rephrase that. I didn't clip coupons.

Ok, well, I USED to clip coupons, and then I had a colicy infant, and couponing just didn't hit a high enough priority rating for me to actually take the time to do it.

Also, I save a TON by admatching around town at my local bottom-of-the-barrel grocer. It seems to me that the majority of people who use coupons actually end up spending more than they naturally would, and so I stayed away from them all together. We've maintained the mentality that it's better on our wallet to "do without" something than it is to buy it at a discount. Obviously, something purchased at a discount is more expensive than not buying it in the first place.

So, in December of 2009 I canceled our newspaper subscription. My wonderful neighbor agreed to let me have the grocery circulor's from her paper which made it a pretty good set-up. After all, it had been months by then since I'd even clipped a coupon from our Sunday paper and, although it cost us only $52/year, I wasn't making that back in coupons alone.

aaaaaaaaanyway...

I have two friends in particular that are incredible couponers. I am exhausted when I think of all the work they do rounding up deals. They are both careful to match up ads, with coupons, and only to buy what they ordinarily would - often forgoeing even the greatest of deals if it would mean a dollar wasted on something that isn't necessary to buy. I have a lot to learn from these two - but one tidbit I learned this past week was put into practice immediately.

I can't believe I'm about to admit this...

On monday after playgroup I made a stop on the way home. Not at a store, not for lunch. No, I stopped at my local recycling center. Not to deliver my recyclables, no. Wait for it... To dumpster dive for coupons. No joke.

And it was easier than I ever imagined possible. There were three bins for newspapers, each stuffed to the brim with nothing but clean (some untouched) papers. With ease I rifled through them to find the prized Sunday papers and their coupons therein. Ten short minutes (and a few awkward glances from passers by) later I was back in my car, with a content snack-clutching toddler, and a large stack of Sunday coupon inserts. Multiples of the same one even.

It wasn't until I arrived home that I realized the bounty of my find. Although there was a mass of coupons I'll never use (for items I couldn't imagine leaving a store with unless they were down right FREE), my 10 minutes of diving time yielded me coupons for multiple commodities that we regularly purchase - items I consistently wait on sales for to purchase in bulk. Coffee, mayo, creamer, cheese, sugar, toothpaste... and the list goes on.

Now, here's the tricky part. They all have expiration dates. Duh. And because I'm NOT ABOUT to use a coupon on an item whose generic alternative I could purchase for less, I must wait until a deal comes around. That's where a few of my favorite blogs come in handy - these blog writers are excellent at scouting out combinations which lead to nearly free products. It boggles my mind. Really.

So if you ever see my red Forester parked out by the recycling center - give me a kind glance and not one that reeks of "Oh no she isn't!". I'll be sure to shoot you the same glance in return when you join me in the bounty of One Man's Trash.

Biting off...

...more than I can chew?

That, we shall see. This week/weekend I have the pleasure of taking care of Levi's best friend (or partner in crime, however you want to look at it). Now, I watch this little dude during the day all the time. His mommy does the same for Levi. We trade date nights weekly. These two boys know eachothers* homes inside and out... except when it comes to sleeping.

*yes, I know, it's not a word. but it fits so well, I had to.

You see, while I find myself perfectly competent shuffling these two-under-two around aaaalllll day long, feeding them, playing fun games, and making sure they don't poke eachothers* eyes out (because trust me, they've tried), I have NO IDEA how to deal with two toddlers during the wee hours of the night.

Oh, I know what you're thinking. "they're nearly two-years-old. The simply MUST sleep through the night, right?" well, the answer to that is yes, mostly. but you see Levi's poor little friend knows something is up. In fact, Levi knows something is up too, and if you're a mother you KNOW that when your kid knows something is different, or about to happen, it eats away at their sleep. Both naps, and night sleep suffer. And can you blame them? Change is hard on little bodies and although it may not be obvious during the day while these two are playing, I'm certain both of their reactions to change will come out of the closet at night, at least to some degree.

So, I'm trying to cover all my bases, and I'd surely appreciate any advice you have.

These two are in cribs in separate rooms. Each room has a sound machine in it. Between the two rooms (in the hallway) I've placed a box fan, on HIGH. Why am I going to all this trouble? Simply put, because I don't plan on running in at the first whimper from either of them, and I don't want them to wake each other up. Our house is petite, and there is no insulation between the walls, so I need to make as much white noise as I can.

Oh, and I have a video monitor on each of their cribs. NOW I'm glad I got that second camera!

Advice please?!

Bragging rights

Ordinarily I have none - Levi takes all our family's aloted bragging rights for his own.

This week, however, thanks to these wonderful blogging ladies who scope out fantastic grocery deals all over the city (matching great deals with coupons and ad-matches), I have a bounty of bragging to do.

The picture below is what I picked up at Hy-Vee this morning.

I spent a total of $14.30

Now I understand that, in itself, isn't very impressive - mostly because $14.30 is a rather high number and it is difficult to assess the value of the items above just by looking at them, so I'll put this into perspective a couple different ways, and then I'll explain how I did it.

• These ten boxes of cereal and four gallons of milk would ordinarily have cost $46.83 at Hy-Vee.
• The four gallons worth of whole milk alone would have come to $14.00 (costing at least $3.50/ea)
• I saved just over 69% on my entire purchase

I can't claim any credit for my outstanding savings today - as I mentioned earlier, these ladies did all the work for me. Essentially, I took advantage of an already great deal on Kellogg's cereal (only certain varieties, and only certain sizes were included) at Hy-Vee, and the ongoing deal they have with Kellog (buy 3 boxes of cereal, get one gallon of milk free!). I also used a few manufacturer's coupons found on the Kellogg website.

There was only one other thing that made this deal sweeter than sweet. By dividing my 10-box purchase up into 3 transactions, I earned three gallons of milk. Hy-vee will allow you to choose any milk (even rice or soy) up to a value of $3.50. So, essentially, I had $10.50 in "free milk" to play with. Lucky me, half gallons of milk were on sale for $1.28 each, so I was allowed to take EIGHT of them home (totaling 4 gallons instead of three) for the alloted $10.50 in "free milk".

Whew. Did you follow that? I'm not even sure I did.

All that said, I could have run off with even a better deal if I hadn't been a wee bit picky about the cereal varieties I wanted. Apparently Kellogg has an ongoing offer for a $10 visa gift card when you buy 10 boxes off a certain list of cereals. I wasn't particularly keen on the list of cereals, and none of them were part of the Hy-Vee sale, so (knowing my own perpensity to FORGET to mail in those mail-in rebates) I ditched that idea.

How about you, any steals worth bragging about?