Bills, Bills, Bills

Remember that 3 week hospital stay that I had? And how I was whisked away in a helicopter to Louisville? You don't?

Well, I remember! It's hard to forget when the bills come piling in. Anyone want to venture a guess as to the cost of my whole stay and transport? Well, I won't reveal it all here, but in case you're curious, the helicopter transport ALONE was $45,000. Thankfully we had decent adequate private insurance (preacher's usually have to find and buy their own private insurance, which also costs.... you guessed it ... alot!) that covered about 75% of our total cost ('copter and hospital). Combine that will generous 'rents and we were left with just a fraction of what the total bill was. We are so blessed to not be under the giant mountain that we would have been without that help!

Tuesday morning, though, I woke up around 6 am thinking about the bills. I just couldn't get them out of my mind. I was making little payments here and there that seemed to not amount to much. So, I thought to myself, "Self, what would Dave do?"

Dave = Dave Ramsey. Financial guru extraordinaire, who dishes out advice your grandmother would give, except he keeps his teeth in.

Dave would pay off the bills from smallest to largest. (As outlined in baby step #2 -- the "debt snowball").

With my new found zeal for getting those bills off of my mind, I hopped on the phone and started taking care of things. I'm super happy to say that we only have three left (obviously the largest), and it's my *plan* that we can have those paid off by the beginning of 2013. It will be beyond great to have no debt again!

(For more info on Dave, visit www.daveramsey.com.)

Crafty? Who, Me?

I have never ever ever ever ever ever have considered myself a "crafty" person. But, since Pinterest has become my new obsession pastime, I have been inspired to try to live up to my name of  "Martha" (minus the whole insider trading/prison stint).

So, what to craft first? Well, since I am obsessed with hair accessories for Jenaleigh, and they add up to quite a bit of $$, what better project to start with first --- fabric flowers! had so much fun doing them that I may even open up my own hair bow/flower store on Etsy... Who knows?!

A close up of the fabric flower that I crafted with my own two hands. Seriously, I'm in awe of myself... ;-)

My beautiful model chilling with her new hair flower (Note: I only made the flower, not the white headband, one baby step at a time, my friends!):

Grump, grump?

 Happy again...

 I love chewing me some fingers!

You've Got the Wrong Mom

My Gmail notifier toned the familiar sound letting me know that I had new mail (by the way, Gmail, where have you been all my life? why did it take me so long to convert to your ways?). The email was from an online baby site that let's you know what's going on with your baby each week; I usually either just glance at these emails or immediately toss them out.

But, this week when I saw the title, I thought, "They must have sent this email to the wrong Mom. Or maybe they've got their numbers mixed up."

 The subject: "20 Weeks Old: What's Going on With Your Baby".

I continued to think to myself as I clicked open the message, "Yep, they must have goofed by sending me this "20 Weeks Old" message."  It wasn't until I opened the message that it hit me...

My baby is 20 weeks old.


When did this happen?

"They" tell you all along that it will go by so fast and to cherish every moment, but I don't think it really sunk in until just now. Hug your babies tight, for they won't be babies much longer!

On a less depressing note, the Bug and I are headed to Knoxville this week with two of my favorite people -- GiGi and Cousin Richard! No, Jenaleigh and I won't be going to the game, but we'll be cheering on the Vols with all our hearts! GO BIG ORANGE!

You drink out of WHAT?

Until I met Daniel, I thought mason jars were for canning veggies. Silly me!

He taught me that they're for drinking out of! How did I go 18 years without knowing this?

I remember the first time I walked into his parents kitchen and the regular glasses were in the dish washer. Daniel handed me a Mason Jar and I looked at him like he had a trillion eyeballs. I'm sure I even joked, "Yeah right, like I'm going to drink out of that!" And I'm sure he looked at me and said, "Yes. You are." And so I did!

In all honesty, I'm not 100% sold on the idea of drinking out of them, and now, in our own home, after we consume the green beans that came out of them, I try earnestly to return the jars to my parents to recycle during next years canning. But, alas, somehow our cabinet gets lined with those awkward jars for the purpose of consuming beverages. Sure. I kinda get it. Some of them have handles. Those are for drinking out of. The rest? I'm not so sure. Why the appeal? Explain it to me please!

If Daniel had seen this pic (found on http://ruffledblog.com/vintage-black-tie-southern-wedding/) I'm sure he would have fought for our own Mason Jar wedding. Too late now, honey!

Don't forget about the...

100.7

100.7 ... yep, that's what the thermometer displayed last night after I checked our fussy crying baby.

Yesterday morning we made the trip to the Health Department to get Jenaleigh's four month "discount shots" as I call them. (Did you know that vaccinations at our Doctor's office would be $700, but we can get them at the health departments, even without being on any governmental assistance, for 40 bucks? Yeah, we're so going to the health department for them all!) The nice nurse ushered us back into the white room lined with pictures of her baby boy. She prepped the shots, Jenaleigh watched her like a hawk, and I started to get nervous in anticipation of the first poke.

Of course, she cried.

Of course, I cried.

But, everything seemed fine during the day yesterday. She was a little more sleepy than normal. And a tad bit more fussy. But, all in all, I was feeling confident that all was fine.

But, after a quick nap in my arms at 8:45 pm, when she woke up she felt fire hot! I checked her temp, and it was 100.7. I know that's not crazy high, but combine that with her screaming and not drinking very much, my Mommy fears kicked into gear.

I called our doc, who gives out her personal cell phone number (she rocks!). She picked up immediately, told me the correct dosage of Tylonel, gave a few calm words of advice, and said to check back in with her if there was not improvement tomorrow.

Thankfully after many cuddles, Jenaleigh went to sleep and slept (a little more fitfully than usual) all through the night and is still asleep right now!

She feels much cooler to the touch and the forehead scan thermometer (which I try to only use as a gauge when she's asleep as it's not greatly accurate) read 97.9. *Whew* This Momma is relieved!

And... just for laughs... I had to leave you with this real warning label found on a thermometer:

Um, great advice!

(ETA: She just woke up and her temp rectally was in the 98's! Yay! However, she is uber fussy... pray for me today. Seriously! Taking care of a fussy baby is super difficult. Hopefully lots of cuddles will help her!)

CVS trip with Baby!

Today was my first time *really* coupon shopping at CVS since Jenaleigh was born. I slipped her into her comfy pouch/sling and we were ready for some big savings! It wasn't quite as challenging as I thought it would be with baby in tow and only made one tiny miscalculation. Here's what I scored:

- TWO boxes of Pamper's 65 ct wipes
- TWO bottles of Little Noses Saline Spray
- Pampers 96 count diapers
- TWO Softsoap Shea Butter Hand Soaps
- 8 count Excedrin
- Thermacare Lowerback Wrap
- 12 pack of Diet Caffiene Free Cokes
- TWO packs of Plastic Cups
- Pack of Dinner Napkins
- 16 ounce Diet Coke for the Road!

Total VALUE of products bought: $63.62
Total DUE (before tax): $29.45
Savings: $34.20 = 54%

Not necessarily my most savings percentage wise, but not bad for just getting back into the couponing world!
(For more tips on savings, head over to my favorite savings site ever: www.southernsavers.com!)

Day in the Life of a SAHM & 4 Month Old

I think I had been taking it for granted. But now I realize how blessed I am to be one... A stay at home mom. (SAHM). I've seen a few statuses on Facebook lately from mothers who are leaving their babies in daycare for the first time (some babies as young as 8 weeks), and I literally weep as I read how sad they were to say goodbye for 8 hours. I weep for them but I also weep just thinking about how utterly despaired I would be to know I had to leave Jenaleigh for 5 out of 7 days.

So, in honor of my new found appreciation for being a SAHM, here's my "Day in the Life of a SAHM + Her Baby". (Ever wonder what a SAHM mom really does during the day? Here's your chance to find out!)

Little Bug woke up from a morning cat nap around 10AM. Even though I may let out a tiny groan when her naps are short, my frown is quickly wiped away when I walk into her nursery and see this face grinning at me:



A big ole stretch here....
Belly time! ... And no belly time would be complete without a little pool of spit up!

No matter what position she's in, she turns directly toward the TV. We can't have that, now can we?!
So, sometimes I place a cow by her so she won't watch the TV. (Yes, I could turn it off... And I DO, but sometimes I just *need* to watch the news!)

After morning belly time and some news watchin' we have quality time. I'm determined for my little girl to know God's love and to develop a deep love for Him herself, and I think one of the best ways to teach her about Him is to sing! So, for about 20-30 minutes we sing.. Her absolute favorite song is "Good Ole Noah". She also goes gaga over "This Little Light of Mine"!
 Okay, so after we sang, the house was too quiet for me. So I went to housetohouse.com and searched for some sermons to listen to!  The one we listened to here was a SUPERB lesson on PK's (preacher's kids) by Glenn Colley.
We then chilled a few minutes and decided to bring out a bib (to protect Mommy, Baby, and the couch!)

Cute baby feet... I'm so glad we live right next to the church building so Daddy can come home for lunch. He always gets a few minutes of playing time in when he's home!
Today's lunch time, Daddy tried to help Jenaleigh sit up on her own. She really wants to! But, she's not quite there yet...

A few last hugs before Daddy goes back to work.

Mommy kisses. YUCK!
 After an afternoon nap by baby (while Mommy caught up on her Bible study and FB), it was time for me to do some dishes. (Honestly, this is my least favorite chore. So much so that you almost never find my sink without a dirty dish. I'm trying *so* hard to change this!) You may wonder why I don't do dishes during her nap? Let's just say she can sleep through a bulldozer in our yard (literally), but not dishes being clanged around. So, Jenaleigh watched from her travel swing while I labored away. She has an ultra-nice full size swing; but, she's not grown to like that one! Oh, well...

Little Miss is really working on her hand-eye coordination. I can't believe that she can see an object and grab it! Her favorite elephant is Horton (which unfortunately has a hole in his back already... Gigi, can you fix this, please?) and she's just recently started to grab Horton's trunk....
 After our afternoon play time and another quick nap, Daniel came home and we packed up to go eat Mexica.We try to have an eating out night on Mondays to combat those Mondays blues... I think she's thinking, "Are you really gonna stick me back here by myself?!" Then on to a quick trip into Walmart...
Then home for our bedtime routine (she's SO excited to eat!) Emerging from bathtime! And that's pretty much our day with a few naps and meals thrown in between. It may not seem like the most exciting in the world, but I love it!