Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Well, my sweet first born baby boy had his first encounter with a headstrong, determined female and she left her mark on him, literally...

Can you see the bite mark on his right eyebrow?

Yesterday I had a small group at our house and James and another little girl were playing in his room and her mommy and I walked out for a few minutes so I could show her something. The next thing I know we hear someone screaming so we run in there and the little girl is sitting totally content in his rocking chair and James is standing by it, red faced, tears streaming, mouth wide open, sobbing:( My first thought was that they had gotten in to a tussle over the chair and he obviously had lost and was upset but then when I picked him up I saw the teeth marks on his eyebrow! No wonder he was so upset! I felt so bad for the little girls mom because she was so upset, but I know things like this happen. All it took was the mention of a "nana" and he started to calm down some. And as you can see from the above picture he was all smiles soon. I can't imagine how it went down or what James thought when she took a bite out of him! He's used to pulling and tugging with his buddies for toys but he's never had the teeth pulled out on him!

Bananas make everything better!

"My name is John-Mark Allen, defensive tackle, UAB"

This pic cracks me up - doesn't he look like such a hoss with that hoodie on!

Here's one where he doesn't look so tough! Notice the missing sock - James rushed in and pulled it off just as I was snapping the pic :)

Daddy James enjoying a good read
Daddy and his boys!Lovin' the swing!
Getting ready to play the piano with Papa Steve - notice how short his pants are - He is too long for his 6 month clothes!! Thank goodness consignment season is on it's way!!

Drumroll Please....

Okay, so I think I have become addicted to this couponing/sales thing! It is one of the highlights of my week when I get the sale adds and see what I can match up with my coupons - I love it! So I am going to join in the fun of all the folks that show off their loot and their savings on their blog- I know I have stated this is a brag blog of my babies, but let's face it - this is pretty brag worthy too :)

Total Regular Price: $183.39

Total Coupons: $43.04
Total in Advertised Sales: $61.19
Total Out-of-Pocket: $79.17
Total Saved: $104.22 / 57% !!!!

I still feel like I spent a lot of money but I saved a lot too!!! I didn't get everything on sale AND with a coupon but most everything was one or the other or BOTH! I was able to get multiples of several great deals by getting extra coupons from thecouponclippers.com
Here's a break down of my best deals:
20 jars of Earths Best babyfood (not in the pic) $.45 each (BOGO + $1/10 coupons) FYI - Publix has coupons available in the babyfood isle we can all take advantage of - sale ends Tuesday!
4 Glass Plus $.25 each (BOGO $2.24 + $1 coupons for each)
4 cans of Progresso Bread Crumbs $.47 each (BOGO $1.94 + $1/2 coupons)
4 8oz Sargento Shredded Cheese $1.50 each (Sale 2/$4 with $1/2 coupons)
5 Dixie 160 count napkins $.50 each (Sale for $1.50 + $1 coupons for each)
3 16 oz Crisco Olive Oil $2.25 each (BOGO $6.50 + $1 coupons for each)
I also got Ragu and Ronzoni Pasta BOGO, Green Giant canned Veggies BOGO, Green Giant Frozen Veggies $.60 each and at the end I had a $5 off coupon for purchasing 20 items on the "Italian Sale" list and another $5 off $50 coupon I used.
Overall I think it was a great day and I was able to stock my pantry with some of the larger ticket items at target or below prices!!

DIAPERS!!! Okay, I have a question to you my loyal blog followers (all 10 of you:)) For those of you that are also on this savings/coupon journey I've read on several forums that $.10 per diaper is the target price on diapers but I just haven't seen any deals that good - have you? I'll buy most brands - the only one's I have tried and really don't like are Wal-Mart diapers but on name brand or store brands the cheapest I've seen are $.14 a diaper (a size 3 box of Publix diapers on sale). Publix currently has Huggies boxes $3off and I have $1.50 coupons which would get me a box of size 3 (100 count) for $.15 each and size 4 (92 count) for $.16 - I'm debating whether it's the best deal or if I should wait. Any opinions/advice?
I got a sample of Cosco diapers in the mail and really liked them but haven't priced them yet - does anyone use them or know what the cost per diaper is?

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun!!

Well, finally after asking everyone I know and doing tons of research we purchased a double stroller for the boys. A sweet friend gave us an Eddie Bauer double stroller that she used with her twins but it was a front to back one and it was just too heavy for me to be lugging in and out of the car all the time, so I decided to go with the double umbrella stroller - which I LOVE! It's only 23 pounds and so far seems great! I put it together this morning and took the boys for a walk in it this afternoon and they did great! One draw back to the side by side stroller is their ability to reach over and touch each other which I'm sure will be an issue one day but today they were totally content to just sit by each other and check everything out.

James realizing he has a neighbor

It's hard to tell from this pic but they are in the reclining positionNow that John-Mark is starting to sit up more James is interacting with him more - here they are in one of his favorite toys - check out the static hair - John-Mark thinks he's pretty funny!John-Mark found James' keyboard and was enjoying it so James had to come over and play too!

Where has my baby gone?

How is it possible that this little man only entered our lives six short months ago?! It seems like over the past week he has starting growing and changing so much and he is no longer an infant! (I know 6 months is not that old but, ugh, my heart!) Sometimes I look at both of them and realize how quickly they are growing before my eyes and I'll get a glimpse of them at 8 or 16 and I know it will be here before I know it!
Anyhoo - this is a toy that Papa Allen got James last Christmas and last night I put back on all the features that make it for a baby to use because I thought maybe John-Mark would be ready for it - and he was - he loved it! It's amazing how probably 2 weeks ago he wouldn't have been able to sit in it like this and now he can. Everyday he is getting better and better at sitting up and soon enough he'll be doing it totally unassisted - and then comes crawling!

I love this face - he's lovin' it!
Daddy and James being silly... and being sweet :)

18 & 6 months old!!!

Oh my goodness where is the time flying to!?! I can't believe how big both of my boys are getting. I think James has hit a growth spurt as of recent because many of his 18 month pants that used to be too long are now just right if not almost too short and he can fully reach the door handles now! And John-Mark is quickly catching up to his big brother and they will be wearing the same size diaper (4) soon! It is so interesting to see the similarities in the two but even more so the differences! As I've mentioned before James is my wonderful napper and John-Mark is my "cat-napper". James has never been very good at entertaining himself while John-Mark can sit in his exersaucer or car seat for long stretches of time and be totally content. At 6 months James was an eating machine and we couldn't get the peas in his mouth fast enough before he would yell at us - John-Mark has barely taken an interest in baby food and actually acts like he's gagging when I feed him peas! I know that we can shape our kids through how we parent them but it's so obvious of God's different, unique design for each of these boys and I already see different areas of prayer focus for each of them. I am totally in love with my boys and completely fascinated by them both.
What's new with us?
James newest obsession is the shower! He loves, loves, loves to take a shower with you and since we have a walk-in shower if you don't keep an eye out you might just find that he will just "walk" in, fully clothed to join you! He also likes to play in the shower when it's not on and two nights ago I looked down while cooking dinner and he was handing me a bar of soap he had gone and taken from the shower :) His favorite foods right now are blueberries and bananas (blue and nanna) - still not big on meat right now. He loves his new swing set and cries when we have to come inside (unless I bribe him with blue or nanna) and whenever I take the boys outside to load them in the car, by the time I get John-Mark all buckled in, James has run to the swing and is standing there grinning at me! He usually gets a couple pushes in the swing before we head off - and it's the same routine when we get back home. He also loves getting to give the dogs their treats - he thinks that is so fun!
Last week my mom and Papa Steve came to visit the boys and they had a great day of playing outside and in. James and Papa Steve were wrestling around on the floor and James was cracking up and having a good time when all the sudden he stopped and gave Steve the sign for all done, then got up and went to his room and got his blanket and came out and said, "night night". I guess Papa Steve wore him out! I don't know of any other kid that loves his sleep like this one!
John-Mark is such a sweet baby - he smiles all the time! Jeremy and I say all the time just how perfect both our boys are and how blessed we are. He is sitting up now (with assistance) and loves to rock back and forth. He's finally starting to eat some baby food and so far the only thing that he hasn't gagged on are pears - but if you're eating something he's trying to grab it and put it in his mouth - it's like he wants to skip baby food and go straight to the finger foods! He hasn't shown any signs of teething yet but James didn't have his first tooth until closer to 7 months so I guess that's one thing they'll have in common. He also is loving the swing as well. He just giggles when I push him and of course, loves to stare over at his big brother swinging besides him:)

Just a Swingin'
Papa Steve and his boys!
John-Mark sitting in the big boy high chair (sniff, sniff)
What's going on back there daddy?James and Daddy resting
James loves to kick Charlie out of his bed so he can play in it!
Hey big boy!!
Happy Valentines Day to everyone!!

Super Saver

Ok - so here's another quick post not centered around the boys - I have recently been educated in the ways of Super Saving via playing the grocery sales and couponing game and I am LOVING it! My goal is to always save as much as I spend. I'm not hitting it every time but I'm doing pretty good. My personal favorite store is Pubix - I know many say that it is much more expensive but if you know how to work their Buy One Get One sales with double coupons you can get amazing deals - today I bought 6 boxes of microwave popcorn for $.35 - you can't beat that!! So, I have added some links to the right side of the blog of some of the places I get my coupons outside of my Sunday papers and some of the blogs of other Super Savers that help me out with great tips each week - my personal favorite if Fiddledeedee - she only covers Publix but she does a great job of breaking all the deals down and helping you get more coupons to add on top! Happy Saving!!

Allen Look-alike Meter

Ok, I am sitting here, by myself just cracking up over this. Jeremy isn't here and he's going scream foul when he sees it! I was just on a friends blog and she had done with with her family so I thought I would do it with my boys. Everyone knows that James is truly a mini-me of Jeremy and he takes MUCH-O pride in that fact and the jury is still out on John-Mark, however, per this look-alike meter website James looks 15% more like ME! hahahahah! And know that I tried it with different pics of all of us and the first time it had him as 6% more like me! Those of you that know Jeremy know that when he gets home and sees this he is going to go to the site and upload as many pics as needed until it says James looks at least 15% more like him.
It's really fun - you should try it with your family!

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Allen Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Geneology - Family reunion

Funny stories about James

James continues to crack me up daily - here are some funny stories we've gotten from him lately:
1. James is now finally saying momma and dadda all the time. He's known these words for a long while now but has just now started really using them. Funny thing, he knows I'm momma but he also calls monkeys momma as well. I don't know if he's missing the "k" sound or what but anytime he sees a monkey he says, "momma?". Yesterday we were at chick-fil-a and he got a book in his kids meal and the main character was a gorilla and when Jeremy opened it up to read it to him he saw the gorilla and said "momma?"
2. We started discipline bootcamp for James a couple of weeks ago. One of the things we have started doing is sitting in time out for whining and crying - this mostly happens because he gets impatient waiting for his food and I know that he is now fully capable of understanding that not one time have I ever made him food and then not given it to him so this pitching a fit is no longer acceptable. The first day I did this I would sit him in his little green chair and get down to his level and tell him "we are not going to act this way - when you are done crying you can get up". The first day he sat there for 10/15 minutes a time and would just loose it and then finally get worn out and stop crying. Well, he's got it figured out now. Whenever I sit him in the chair he cries the whole way over there and then as soon as I sit him on the chair and tell him what he has to do to get up he stops crying and gives me the sign for "all done". How funny is that! I have to keep myself from cracking up at him. So far he's doing pretty good with it. There are some days he doesn't have to go at all and his trips there are much shorter than when we started!
3. On this discipline note he has starting, I guess what you would call a tantrum? But it's not the throw yourself on the floor flailing your arms kind of tantrum. Often when he doesn't get his way, to let me know that he's not happy, he very calmly sets down whatever he has in his hands and then lays down on the floor - I guess to let me know he's not moving? It really cracks me up because it's so calm. When he first started doing it I really didn't even pay him any attention but I've now realized what he's doing. Now this behavior also warrants a trip to the time out chair:)
4. As I have posted in the past James is quite the eater and this continues to be true. And he will eat until you put the food away or it runs out. Apparently our church nursery gives out little puffs or cookies or something. I have no idea when they bring these snacks out but when we picked up James this past Sunday he looked like the Cookie Monster. He had crumbs all over his face and his shirt. I should have taken a picture so you could fully understand. I'm just imagining that they pop out these snacks pretty early in the service to keep the kids happy and most kids come over, grab a few and then keep playing, and there stands my son, glued to the cookie lady and just double fisting them all service long! I didn't see any other kids covered in cookies like mine!
5. Nap time - james continues to be my wonderful sleeper. He is almost 18 months old and still takes 2 -2 hour naps a day. I've tried to move him to a one a day nap schedule and he's just not ready for it - which is fine with me since the 9am nap is the only time he and John-Mark are down at the same time. Now, if we're out and about he can go with only one nap but if we're just around the house between 9 and 9:30 I'll say, "ready to take a nap?" and he says "night-night?" and goes into his room and puts his hands up for me to put him in his bed! Could he be any sweeter!?!

This is showing me the sign for "all done!"