Frustrated...

Finn has his 3rd ear infection in 45 days. The little booger is terrible to administer antibiotics to, so in the past he has had an injection of antibiotics in case we don't get much of the oral ones in him. Today I went back for my "monthly" visit to our pediatrician and once again asked for a "buy one get one free" punch card since we seem to frequent the place at least once every 6 weeks. Thank goodness Meijer has free antibiotics...it doesn't sting as much then.

Reality has kicked in and I'm pretty sure that his first EI started a few weeks after I introduced dairy back into my diet, so I guess that means no more cream in my coffee...bummer. When we go to the allergist at the end of the month for Maddie's check up I'm going to ask about having him tested since I also know that peanuts in my diet make him throw up. How in the world did I get these high maintenance kids?

On a positive note, I have noticed a difference in the babies' skin since we got our water softener! Makes it work the expense.

Feeling Good

This weekend we spent a lot of time outdoors with the kids and had a chance to meet several of the people in our neighborhood. Maddie and Sawyer loved playing in the driveway and going on walks around the block and Finn found the shade under the tree in the front yard to be a great place to play. Paul spent sime time playing basketball with the boys next door which they think is pretty cool.

There is a family from our house church that lives 2 blocks away in our neighborhood and we finally were able to get Maddie and Mady together to play. We can't even call them by their first/middle names b/c they are the same! It was so nice to be able to have someone to hang out with and then walk home. Tonight, Mady's dad called for some peroxide and was on our doorstep in 2 minutes...and tomorrow night we will be having dinner together.

Spending the time this weekend with new friends was such a blessing. Paul and I stood outside in the cul-de-sac last night visiting with neighbors and playing basketball with the boys until 9:15. When I came inside I had a huge smile on my face...this weekend of new friends and hanging out was exactly what I was wanting from our new neighborhood...and hopefully there's more to come!

Humble Pie

Saturday I decided to venture out and grocery shop all by myself...I guess I needed "alone" time. I hit my usual haunts - Walmart (sorry Micah) and Aldi. In order to stick to my budget, I have to bite the bullet and avoid the temptation of Trader Joe's and Whole Foods more than once a month. I was excited to hit Walmart with a purse-load of coupons and was sure that I was going to do well bargain shopping. When I went to check out, I swiped my debit card only to find that it was DENIED...I guess I should have activated the new one sitting on my counter for the past 3 weeks! I paid with credit card and went happily on my way...until I got to the car. I realized that Aldi is a cash or debit only kind of store and I have an expired debit card and no cash. So, I headed off to the local bank for some cash to finish grocery shopping. When I got to Aldi I loaded up my card with the items from my list and 2 packages of diapers (cheap, I know but they just poop in them!). When the cashier was almost finished scanning my items I realized that I had more food then I had money for. I had to stop her from scanning and ask her to take a few things back out of my cart. I was so embarrassed that others would think that I couldn't afford what I had and was afraid that I had annoyed the cashier by having "eyes bigger than my pocketbook." I humbly paid for my items and went to the car. I immediately called Paul and told him how I was feeling - why was I so embarrassed? I knew that I could afford the groceries but didn't have enough cash to cover the whole cart...but THEY didn't know that. Why did I care so much when I didn't know any of them? I always thought of myself as a person who didn't care what others thought...until now. Somehow, I let my fear of what others may think of me get in the way of the true issue...I had more than I needed and it took an expired debit card to get my attention.

Instead of giving up caffeine (yeah, right!), chocolate or something else utterly delicious for Lent, I made a commitment to myself to give up buying things that aren't of necessity. I never realized how hard it is to pass up the dollar bin at Target until now...for some reason the kids always NEED one more pair of socks or because I have a coupon it makes sense, right? I don't think so. I'm doing well in the "stuff" department, but food is still a tough one for me. I think this week I am going to write down a meal plan for not just dinners, but also breakfasts, lunches and snacks so that I can map out what I really need to buy and stick to it. Who knows, I may even try to cook from scratch!

Trying again

So I set up this cute blog about my prince and princesses on another blog site only to find that it was a royal pain (no pun intended) to upload pictures. I also realized that I had other things to write about besides the royal kiddos...there's more to me than diapers, snot and chicken nuggets...a little more!

So, I'm hoping that this blog will be more successful than the last since it hopefully will be much easier to update!

Happy Reading!