Today

Missed our flight last night...

Kyle is still sick...

Probably not going to make it home today either...

Totally convicted this morning by this post...

Heavy hearted for Stellan...

Sick Hubby

This morning Kyle woke up when I did... not a normal thing when he is on vacation, and I thought it was going to be a nice morning... boy, I was wrong! He has spent half the morning in the bathroom and the other half of the morning looking like this...

We are supposed to be flying home tonight, but I am not so sure we are going to make it on our plane! I think it would be hard enough to fly with a 14 month old by myself let alone a baby and a throwing up husband! It does cost quite a bit of money to change our flights, but really... what are our other options?

Please pray that Ryland nor I get sick and that he starts to feel better soon! He has a lot going on at work and really can't afford to miss tomorrow, its that last day of the quarter, but you can't control this and he just needs to get rest and get better.

Name Change

OK, so I have somethings coming up in my life within the next few weeks. Remember this post, when I not so subtly mentioned that I had a surprise that I would mention in a few weeks? Well, I still cannot tell you what the surprise is, but I am contemplating changing the name and domain for this blog. The surprise involves our family blog and the public and I am not so sure that I am comfortable with all of our names, including last names, being on here. I know this might make it sticky for you all when navigating to our blog, but hopefully I can make the transition as smoothly as possible and that you would all understand.

Currently I am deciding on a new blog name and begging Kyle for a blog overhaul... but those aren't so cheep, so we might be staying with the same design until I get some birthday money or someone wants to donate towards our blog remodel, lol! :) I feel as though I am entering a league that I am not qualified for! I will be surrounded by other blogging moms that have really great looking, fun, professional blogs with TONS of readers and here I am with my simple little blog with all 5 faithful readers! But, that's OK, the little fish has to swim with the big fish once in a while...

Pictures

P.S. If you are interested in seeing more pictures of our vacation, you can click on the photo in the sidebar under the "Photo Albums" title and that will take you to our month by month shots. Click on the "14 Month" album and view the pictures that my wonderful sister has taken of us last week! There will be more added next after we get home.

Snow???

We woke up this morning to a dusting of snow covering the ground, really!?! Last week when we got to NM we did not have the right clothes. I thought it was going to be cold to we packed cold weather clothing. After a trip to Target and Motherhood Maternity, we were equipped with warm weather attire. This week... its a different story. High's in the low 50's and snow... what? So, we pack up our new clothes and break out the winter wear again! Bummer!!!

On a side note, Kyle flew in yesterday morning! I am so glad he is here! I missed him so much while we have been gone... the old saying, "distance makes the heart grow fonder" really is true and I was so ready to see him! I had my best nights sleep last night with him sleeping next to me.

Also, please continue to pray for baby Stellan! He is still not stable and his heart rate continues to beat at an extremely high rate. My heart hurts for them to think what they are going through right now!

Just a few more...

Just a few more pictures of our vacation. We went to the top of the mountain last week and Ryland had her fist in counter with snow on the ground! We are still having a wonderful time, but we are ready to see Kyle! He flys in tomorrow morning and I can not wait! A week and a half is too long to not see him, but I am so thankful he has let me come!

Speaking for Kyle... I can not wait to go home next week! He and his Dad worked their tail ends off on our house last week for 5 days and got SO much done!!! I will post pictures as soon as I get home, but really, it will be like coming to a new home!

On a side note I would like to share something real quick that we figured out this week while in NM. I have always used Boudreaux's Butt Paste to treat diaper rash on Ryland, although she never really suffered from diaper rash much. This week she developed a case of sever diaper rash and I could not get it to go away. So, Dr. Mom (my mom... she should have been a doctor) read in her medical books that the key to fighting diaper rash... cream with Zinc in it and Cranberry juice in older babies to reduce the PH levels in their urine. So, last night, my great Dad went to the store at 9pm to get Desitin and cranberry juice. She had half a cup of juice before bed and a good slathering of cream... this morning, the rash is gone!!! So, it will now be Desitin (or A&D cream) and cranberry juice from now on!

Please Pray!

I have been following this blog for over a year now. I do not know this family, but I feel like I do through their blog. Last summer MckMamma was pregnant with her 4th baby. They had given her the news that her soon to be born son had sever heart problems and most likely not survive outside the womb. Though this prognosis was something no women ever wants to hear, MckMamma held strong to the knowledge that our Lord is in control and is the ultimate Healer.

Here is what MckMamma says about her sweet baby boy:

"MckMuffin is our cuddly 4 month old son S! In the womb, he was diagnosed with heart failure: premature atrial contractions at 20 weeks; supraventricular tachycardia, hydrops, and intermittent advanced secondary heart block at 23 weeks; and enlargement of the heart at 32 weeks. When the doctors told us at 24 weeks that our very ill baby would surely die, we chose to give our son completely to God, for He alone knows best. We have not stopped praising our Lord since then, for MckMuffin was healed and was born a well and whole full-term baby...with dimples!!"

Stellan has been a healthy baby boy with no symptoms what so ever of his previous diagnosis. He did contract RSV about a month ago, but came out of that battle completely healthy.

Well last night they took to the ER because of some coughing and a low grade fever. After receiving a neb treatment his heart rate sky rocketed to 300 and has since stayed in the 280's-290's. Please go here to read the full story and pray for this sweet little baby and his family! The good Healer has healed him once before and can do it again!

Just to keep you happy...

Here are just a few shots of our trip to Albuquerque. We are only halfway done with our vacation and we are loving it! Ryland is totally smitten for her Paparino (oooh-no, is what she calls him). When he is in the room she wants nothing to do with anyone else, not even me. :) She will not let him tell her "no" at all. If he does, she gets a very sad face, sticks out her bottom lip and starts to cry. Needless to say, she has him completely wrapped around his little finger.

We have been to the Zoo, the Aquarium, the top of the Mountain, my Mom's classroom, and almost every good restaurant in town. Ryland feels right at home here, so the trip has been very easy.

In less then one week, my baby bump has decided to make its appearance and I now have only three things that I brought to NM that fit. Nice. So, we are going to have to make a shopping run and find some clothes for me to wear... but I will never complain about "having" to go shopping!

I will post more upon our return, but I thought this might hold you over.

Etsy.com

A college friend of my sisters has her own Etsy shop, and look who one of her models is! :) The clothes she makes are oh so adorable and you should check them out! Just click on the picture to link to her site or click here.

Baby on the way!

OK, I know I said no more posts for a few weeks... but I have not left yet... and I needed a break from packing/cleaning. :) So, here are a few items that I am looking forward to getting for baby number two (you can click the picture to be linked to the websites):

Vacation here we come!!!

Alright, I am leaving for vacation very soon and will warn you now that there probably won't be any posts for about 3 weeks! But, I promise upon our return you will get more pictures then you could have asked for! :) I also have some exciting news to tell you when we get back!!!! But.... you'll have to wait for it!

Sales and Coupons

On the Today Show earlier this week there was a lady discussing coupons and how you can really save money by using coupons. Her example was that she had a whole table of food that she bought for only $.25 (yes, that is cents people)!!! This caught my attention and from there I was sold. Her plan is to watch the local sales at grocery stores and then use manufacture coupons that come out usually on Sunday's paper... so only buy sales items and hopefully with an extra discount from a coupon. Sounds easy enough right!?!

I have been struggling with our grocery bill for about 2 months now. With the raise in prices and the need to buy more for Ryland, our budget in the grocery store is totally off whack. I also feel like because I don't work that it is my job to help our family save as much money as possible. So, I have become the coupon clipping and sales watching woman that I swore I never would be (yikes, am I really saying that out loud?)!

I am proud to say that after only about an hour of clipping and sales watching I prepared my menu for the week based on local sales items and coupons that I found (I am so cheep, I actually got our elderly neighbors to 'donate' their unused Sunday coupons to me so I don't have to buy a paper... they LOVE it). Over all I ended up getting food for almost two weeks worth of groceries (dog food and diapers included) and I only spent $115.37.... get this, I saved $76.23!!! Now, I know its not $.25, but maybe the better I get at watching sales and collecting coupons the more the price will go down! On top of all of that I was able to get 'extras' from the store that I would not normally buy because of the GREAT deals I found. For example, I got 3 boxes of good cereal (you know, the really sugary kind like coco puffs) for $2.00.... that is right, 3 boxes for just $2.00!!!

Its kind of silly, but I found a since of accomplishment in this little adventure today and really felt like I was physically doing something to help out our family's needs! The fun part about it too, is that it is my new Sunday morning routine. Kyle and Ryland can have a lazy morning sitting around in PJ's and I am home before lunch... much better then fighting with Ryland to stay sitting in the cart for an hour while I hurriedly shop and leave the store way over budget and have forgotten half my list! :)

So, get clipping... you can save too!

Weekends and Winners

OK, so since only 3 of you named that photo and all 3 of you made me giggle, it was a 3 way tie! :) Thanks for playing!

So, this weekend I gained a little bit of inspiration! Kyle and I have a little extra money coming in right now so we are really trying to think of what the best way to spend it is. Of course our first thoughts are buying new clothes and going out to eat, but really... that is how we would spend our money? A side from some jeans that Kyle needs, we don't need clothes. What we really need to do is spend some money on our house. Since we have decided to stay here, I want to do a few things to make it better for us.

So, we spent a good part of yesterday afternoon walking around Home Depot looking for ideas. It was really good for us to just go down every isle and talk about our options and goals we would like to achieve in this house. I think since we have been on such a TIGHT budget for the past year and a half, we never really talked about things we could do to the house... we just prayed that nothing would HAVE to be done. We made it through without having to spend any big money on the house thus far, so I am thankful! It was fun to dream yesterday. We talking about how we would fix the planter in the front of the house, what we would like to do to the kitchen someday, how to improve on our limited closet space, putting in a new front door, new garage door, and so much more.

In a couple of weeks, Ryland and I are going on vacation to Albuquerque. We will be there for two weeks and Kyle will be joining us for a few days at the end of our trip. But, while we are gone, Kyle's dad offered to come down for a few days and help Kyle with some projects around the house!!! This is so exciting for me.... you see Kyle has a slight motivation issue. I mean, he does fine when he is in a time crunch or when something must be done, but as far as gaining motivation to spend his day off doing 'projects' around the house he does not find appealing and lacks the motivation to do them. Sometimes I feel like a nag, when I constantly ask "what his plans are for the day" or "would he mind doing _____" so, the idea of his dad coming down is a great way to motivate him! It's a time crunch to get as much done while he is here and before we come home as he can! So, thanks Dwain, I'm excited!

One thing we did do while we were there was purchase quite a few large plastic bins. I feel like our house is just full of STUFF and I am really tired of it. So, I am spring cleaning! I have taken over the garage (basically, given up hope that we will ever park in there) and claimed it as my storage unit. I am moving furniture, clothes, books, anything that is not being used, into the garage into clear plastic bins. There is will stay until we need it again. I just need space in our house, and this was the only way I could achieve that!

So wish me luck and motivation as I begin this spring cleaning project! Kyle also, hung a large shelf in the laundry room (dryer room, really), and that has already made a huge difference for me! Maybe you will be getting some pictures along the way of the organization process.