Monday, February 26, 2007

Garrett is standing!

yes, on his own. :)
Garrett standing on his own!
he's been working on it for a bit, but as of today, he's 8 months and 1 week.

chocolate gravy- FIXED!

 
ok, so I don't know where my brain was when I posted the last one. obviously it had already gone to bed cause it sure wasn't here in my head where it should have been! :)
so anyway, for chocolate gravy, there are many variations, but I'll post a basic one and give some extras:
 
so this is the recipe I used:
 
2/3 C sugar
2 T flour
2 T cocoa powder
2 C milk
 
mix all ingredients together in a bowl, starting with the dry ones. then heat until thick. add butter and serve over biscuits.
*I had to add an extra Tbs of flour though cause it just would not get thick for me.*
 
other variations:
calls for adding from 1/4 to 1 tsp of vanilla to the mix.
 
so try that and see if its much more enjoyable!! LOL!

Friday, February 23, 2007

belly be gone! please?

oh, forgot to mention, I'm down 1/2 lb today!! yeah, not much, but I've not even added upping my activity to my days yet. I'm just keeping track of my foods (which makes me want to snack less )
my calories have been kept from 2300-2450 each day so far. sounds like a ton when people talk about losing weight. *blush* but I gotta remember I can really diet right now. I know if I got more active I'd see a bigger change. just gotta DO it! (note to kick self in self's butt!)
we had a good nights sleep last night. they get better and better. I've been working with little guy on his sleep through the night stuff again. he used to give me at least a couple nights of great sleep a week, but hasnt been doing that lately. he got used to thinking 'if he woke up, he'd get some boobie'  last week during that 'up til 4:30' thing was the cherry on top. ugh! so no more boobie for him during the night unless I think he actually needs it. since that terrible 4:30 night, (and including it), all I've been doing when he wakes up is to lay him down, paci him and blanket him. each nights been getting better. last night he was only up his usual 'I'm awake about an hour after you lay me down-though I dont know why' thing. this is an every night thing for the past month! he always goes right back to sleep after I lay him down, but sheesh, what's the deal? other than that, he slept all night til 7 this morning. so we both feel great! the past two nights or more were only up once (other than the thing I mentioned with him getting up an hour after bedtime). so things are getting much better.
I'll kinda miss those night feedings at times *sniff* but I'll make it.  we'll have our cuddle time in the mornings when he wakes up!

he's been working on his standing balance a lot lately. getting a bit more brave every day. course that's not always a good thing. yesterday he bonked his head on moms end table where he went down.

got to get in town early today. my sis is going to pick up K about 1 to take her with her and her youngest to a girl scout overnight thing.  K is super excited about it! if she likes it, I'm going to ask Lisa if she can take her any of the other times they go.

Canaan wants to stay home by himself today. I've not decided yet. probably will let him though. he wants to work on finishing his current math book and he cant concentrate when we're out and about on Fridays. it'll be a short day anyway.

ok, off to do something with my day!
 

Monday, February 19, 2007

Happy Birthday! that's awesome!!

we had a good day, nothing special happened really, just a good all around day. the kids didn't do much at all on school work mostly my fault for sleeping in late today, but we'll work on making up tomorrow.
my parents came over for dinner (baked chicken with rotini and cheese sauce, fried red taters, mac/cheese for the kids, green beans, meatballs and rolls). my mom brought me a gift over! its one of the Crayola cutters. its really cool but I'll have to practice with it. it'll be so neat for scrapping!


My little sister sent me a card today, but I didn't hear from my brother (which isn't surprising LOL ). FIL called, but he didn't remember my bday either (that is totally not surprising! LOL) and I didn't remind him. no biggie!

I'm hoping G sleeps well tonight. I'll be heading to the shower after this post. I am tired tonight, so gotta get my rest while I can.
I was getting tickled at him today though, he's getting more and more brave about letting go when standing. several times while he'd be standing at my legs, I'd feel him let go to like rub his eyes or something. don't know if he realizes he stands by himself though. he thinks its hilarious to stand out in front of me and I try to get him to walk to me.

he's getting insistent on feeding himself snack foods. his puffs must be fed by him or else he'll guide my hand to his mouth. he has to have his own spoon many times during feeding cause he'll try to hijack my spoon and then its a wrestle match to get it back. LOL!

a Gavin funny from today: he got all serious on me and asked me "mommy, who's baby were you?"
I said "mamaw's"
him: "MAMAW MADE YOU A BABY???"
:
me: "yes. and uncle John and Aunt Kimmy are also Mamaw's babies."
Gavin:


kids are SO dang funny!!!

and in some totally awesome news, I added up what we've paid off so far since we started our 'money makeover' in September and *drum roll please* our current paid-off total is $4885.92!!!!!!!!!!!! that is SO awesome feeling!!! amazing!!! it puts wind in my sails and a smile on my face! we've got a long way to go, probably a couple years worth, but man, what a great feeling to know we've done that much already!!!

Happy Birthday to me!

:)
yes, I like birthdays!! Wee!!!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

tonight Garrett was either way too tired or over excited and fell backwards from standing at least 5 times! I think he was trying to stand without holding on to what he was at and would lose his balance. some snuggles and a kiss for the boo-boo and he was better though.

we stayed home from church today. the roads were icy last night, much less this morning. after some lounging around, fixing breakfast (eggs, bacon, biscuits, milk gravy AND chocolate gravy), and a short nap for G and I about lunch time, we headed to walmart to get the rest of the groceries. came out spending $60 there, not bad, but we always spend more when dh is with us. LOL!

for dinner we just finished off the pizza from last night and had some sandwiches and raviolis. nothing like simple! we'll have chicken tomorrow.

I got some scrapping done tonight (pics in the creative blog). finally did our 2005 Christmas pages and a few more.

G's 'official' 8 month pics




he's with Tigger, so of course its official. :)


Saturday, February 17, 2007

8 months

 
all my babies when they were 8 months:
 
Garrett: 30", 23.5 lbs
 
Hunter: 30", 23 lbs
 
Gavin: 32", 25 lbs
 
Katlyn: 30", 22 lbs
 
Canaan: 31", 25 lbs

Friday, February 16, 2007

on our way to being debt free, a wee bit more

gotta get an 8 month update gathered up!
Garrett is turning a corner in his development again. he's taking chances on free standing, not big ones, but like while he stands at my legs, he'll very briefly let go and just be standing on his own. he's also getting brave enough to go between cruising places. I think his first solo steps will be soon.
I was playing with him last night, standing him out in front of me to see what he'd so and he lunges for me. LOL! he'll soon start taking a step and then more, and it works on from there!
he's wide awake right now, standing at my legs, laughing and gabbing up a storm. everything is funny, I don't know if he's delirious or what! 
we had a good day, even with my huge list of things to do! the kids did great w/ the help of the portable DVD player!
my day went kinda like so:

pay online bills
breakfast for all
to FIL'S bank
to my bank
pay FIL's tags on truck
pay remainder of house ins
stop at post office for a shop
make truck pymt
-drive to the city-
stop at theatre to pick up poster for my mom (they'd not opened yet)
stop at Arbys to pick up sandwiches
go to tax office-get our refund & pay FIL's tax prep fee
deposit refund
to go TRU for diapers
stop back at theatre and get poster
-drive back to our town-
pay property taxes
go to grocery
back home finally!
get OL and pay off 2 bills WOO!

I've got 2 more bills to pay off, but will have to wait til Tues when they open (don't think they'll be open on Monday). we'll also get dh's boots and have some $ for our anniversary. :) so yeah, its all gone essentially, but its all good!
(G is now in his crib and is playing with the activity center. poor sissy. LOL!)

ok, he's back out here. this child is wide AWAKE.  guess its a good thing I've got a little bit of spark left in me. LOL!

while at TRU I did find a couple of good deals. they had some packs of tank onesies (sleeveless) in the 18-24m size for $5.50, plus I had a $1 coupon for them, so G will have those for the spring/summer. plus a cute dolphin sprayer that attaches to the side of the 'ring' pools, it was $2. figure it'll be fun for them this summer while they're splasin in the pool! plus I got the huge box of TRU dipes for $16 cause I had a $5 coupon on those (144 ct box). so he's set with diapers til the end of March I think! LOL

dinner was easy, dh wasn't that hungry, so it was just soup for tonight!

he's got a half day tomorrow (hopefully) and if he gets home around lunch, like he's hoping, we'll go ahead and do our day out tomorrow. if he gets in later then we'll just try another weekend. I'd like to have at least half a day to play around ya know? ;)
haven't decided where to go to eat yet. he's letting me pick this year cause he picked last year. I looooooooooooooooooooove Outback and could really go for one of their steaks, but I also wouldn't mind trying out one of the Japanese restaurants. we rarely do anything different like that (not that we don't like foreign foods, we do, its just the opportunity to go!). so I cant decide!

aw, G just laid down on the floor and is starting to snore. guess he's just having to wear himself out tonight. :P

 

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

just sitting down this morning, of course now G is getting fussy. we'll be off in a bit when I get all my paperwork together for my shops and get dressed. its to be rainy, but fairly nice out today, so I may get the kids to play out in the carport cause tomorrow its going to be freezing again. :P

I'm hoping today we'll get to watch Cinderella 3. Katlyn watched it last night, but I've not gotten to yet and by george, I wanna see it! LOL!

24 and CSI were good last night. I feel sorry for Jack though, talk about a dysfunctional family! geez! and I'm glad Chavez got it on CSI. bad boy! tonight is NCIS.

while we're out and about I'm going to stop at a couple of consignment stores and see if I can find G some more 18m carters zip up sleepers. he's gotta have more cause I've only got 2 fleece zip up ones and 1 button up one. a couple pair of 2 pc jammies (I don't really like using those til they're older though) and everything else is 12m which is already 3/4 sleeves on Garrett. :P gotta find the kid some pjs!
 

Monday, February 12, 2007

funny stuff!

everyone is in bed, were actually in bed by 10:30, even Garrett with no fuss! so I'll head there myself soon. maybe I'll get some good rest tonight. last night wasn't bad, but I still need to make up for the night before.

got a couple of shops to do tomorrow morning. but I guess that's the biggest thing outside of here.

I have a funny of the kids from today:

we were at the table after lunch and Canaan was being a clown and trying to get me to laugh (yeah, it was working, but I was still getting aggravated cause he'd done been told to get back to his work), well, it all got fired up that K and Gavin would try to yank his shorts down (cause C had said they couldn't do it. ie: direct challenge LOL ) well, Gavin was right behind me, C was on the other side of me and K was on the far side of Canaan. Canaan in his 'just like daddy' frame of mind, moons Gavin and I!
Gavin lets out a high-pitched girlified scream and starts running off covering his eyes saying "THE HORROR!!! OH THE HORROR!!!" I was laughing so hard I was crying!!!! omgosh, that child is a riot!!
(and no, my kids don't go around mooning everyone or trying to yank on their shorts LOL )
 

Sunday, February 11, 2007

new pics up!


all the kids like to draw on the computer. their favorite things to draw are Mario and Luigi (from Nintendo) and Katlyn likes to draw Barbie and Bratz girls. :)

having fun standing at the mattress while FIL was in. he was able to climb up on it this time and play on the squishiness of it.


daddy, Garrett and FIL. this is "hug the baby!" LOL!


the one-hand stand


Hunter gets worried about him when he's standing so often gets behind him to 'protect' him. ;) here he was getting ready to show me a kick move when I snapped the picture.


some assisted walking to momma!


perhaps he's not getting enough to eat??

Tuesday, February 06, 2007



listening to a funny ecard on the headphones

playing with daddy on the floor!
Mommy today. Look, she cut and colored her hair!

playing with brother and other stuff

got pics to post finally again since my monitor is back up and running and I can actually SEE how my pictures look. :)

playing peek a boo and tag with biggest brother tonight:

Where did brother go? I'm on the hunt!

are you behind the chair?
are you trying to sneak up on me?
I know, you're under the table!
Hey! How'd you get behind me?
Dude! You got the mighty magic noise maker?!

Sunday, February 04, 2007

superbowl sunday

we stayed home today. :P I was looking forward to going to church this morning, but the roads were covered up again and the backroads to church are mighty dangerous.  they were clear by noon of course, so I took our movies back and stopped and got KFC for our dinner for the rest of the day. been forever since we ate from there.
tonight, watched the superbowl,
GO COLTS!  wasn't much of a game though, really. and the commercials I wasn't impressed with either. there were a couple that I thought were funny, but really, where did the inspiration go?  ah well. it was kinda boring basically watching it by myself. I miss hubby. :( Canaan would pop in and out to catch up on what was going on, but nothing like dh being next to me to gripe about the plays. hehe!
he'll get to be in on Tuesday at least. I also go get our taxes done that day, so hopefully it'll be a great day!!

the PB bars are gone as of tonight. the kids scarfed down what was left. I really need to lighten upon the snacking cause man oh man, its gonna catch up with me really quick if I don't!  I'm still hanging in a size 12 and I want to keep it that way or go smaller. I tend to have a problem with inching up. :P

OH, forgot to mention I think that Garrett started waving yesterday!  its SO cute cause he only waves his hand, not his whole arm, its kinda like a queen or some royalty with how they just do the hand wave at the crowd. LOL!
his diaper rash is clearing up a bit at a time. I do think the Activia yogurt is helping him go, but maybe its making his poos acidic? he's definitely gone more today (he did have a butt pill yesterday morning, but worked it out really fast). tonight he almost had a blowout!  that would be the first time for him to have one!
got him in the bath tonight cause he's been a mess while eating, plus for his rash and he just has a ball. doesn't care for toys at all, just wants to play with the water (soaking everything he can) and staring at the baby staring at him in the spigot! ^_^ he stays in til the water turns cold then he's ready to get out. I do like that he doesn't mind getting his head/face wet. he thinks its funny (reminds me of Canaan and Gavin).

I watched One Night with the King today too.  very good movie! even Katlyn watched most of it with me. (for those that don't know, its a movie about Queen Esther).
 

Saturday, February 03, 2007

its the weekend

all kids are finally in bed, we're running behind with daddy out of town.  we rented some movies today for the weekend: Open Season (very good!), Crank (for DH) and One Night with the King (have yet to see it). also a couple of kids movies.
I'm hoping we'll be going to church tomorrow. we didn't go last week cause of my mom and the two oldest being out of town and the frigid temps we had. tomorrow its to be crazy cold too and a chance of flurries. guess it depends on the roads in the morning. they were just a smidge icy today when we went in town and going the other way to church is all backroads that only get 'plowed' by the cars traveling on them.

Garrett has a bad diaper rash. :( not sure what its from, maybe the Activia yogurt he's been taking the past week? it just flared up this morning, but his poor little bottom is so sore and red. diaper changes are not fun at all! he's still got a runny nose, but its not a yellow "cold" type runny nose, plus no cough/fever or any other thing with it. wish it'd go away already!

I ordered the power pack for my monitor yesterday. hopefully it'll arrive this week (shipping from CA). I really miss my monitor!

Hunter's been in a 'mood' with daddy gone. that means he gets in a lot of trouble for acting out. LOL! he's overly rough and rowdy and with daddy out, its that much worse. he was sent to bed early twice this week (including tonight) for not listening. it breaks his heart when he gets in trouble, I don't know why its so hard to get him to listen when he's like that. *sigh*

I go on Tuesday to get our taxes done *woohoo!* I'm kinda worrying about having to take all the kids though. my mom works half days and my appt is at 1. she's off at 12:15. I'm hoping she'll be able to just get that day off or get off work earlier. I asked my cousin about watching the kids if mom couldn't, but she'll have to get back with me cause she needs to set up a parent/teacher appt and will have to go when they're available of course. so we'll see. I can do the appt with the kids there, I would just like to have all my attention given to the tax lady instead. LOL! plus I was hoping to go to JCP and spend some more on my gift card if I was alone. ^_^

I cut and colored my hair last night (much needed!). I only trimmed about an inch off all over, but it made a difference and getting rid of that gray schtuff was a must! now I feel younger!  (and look a smidge younger, hehe!)
 

Thursday, February 01, 2007

big boys!

took H and Garrett to a checkup yesterday. Hunter is 44.5 lbs and Garrett is 23.5 lbs Garrett's had a BIG jump from his 6 month check! (he was only 19 lbs then).

also, his 2nd tooth is through!  so 2 teeth for the G-man!
 
must be those pickles!  he is eating much more solids in an average day I think, not more than milk yet, but amping it up for sure. plus my kids are always built stocky, very solid.  no petite kids in this house!  he tried mac and cheese for the first time tonight (the real stuff, not that baby food stuff) and loved it! plus he helped me eat a peanut butter sandwich the other night (just small bites which he scarfed ).

he slept all night last night, which I'm so happy for. still surprised me though, but still he'd napped maybe 30 minutes the whole day.  so he needed to sleep all night! he's had one nap today, about an hour, so we'll see how he does tonight. he's just not a napper.

I'm boxing up a bunch of my maternity and NB baby stuff to send to one of my friends. she's due close to Garrett's edd, so the stuff will work great for her!  she's paying me for it too, and I'd probably not make that much on ebay for it (plus I just don't have the time or want to list the stuff!)

I also got my 2nd bite tonight while G was nursing and trying to chew his thumb at the same time. : goofy boy.