Loose Tooth!

A few weeks ago I asked my dad (and dentist) to look at Caley's bottom front teeth because I was concerned they were crowding. He said they weren't crowding but looked so because they are loose! I nearly started crying! I can't believe my little girl is old enough to start losing her teeth.

10 years ago this month I met Bill at swing dancing class. I'm so thankful he said "yes" when I asked him to dance. We "celebrated" by putting the kids to bed early last night, having a yummy dinner, and watching The Karate Kid. 

Wesley crashed movie night but seemed pretty entertained by rolling around on the floor. Somehow Kermit got on his back! Not sure how that happened!

I love you Billy!

Did you know...

that there's a dinosaur that lives on our street? She likes to ride in the car with us (thankfully she fits in the Suburban and we have extra seatbelts) and plays at the Merry Go Round park. Sometimes when her mommy says it's okay, she comes home with us and eats mac 'n' cheese. Caley says, "She likes us and likes going in the car with us." Amelia says, "We hold it (the dinosaur's hands)."

We're so glad to have a friend down the street.

Missing

Has anyone seen a little girl about yay high, blond hair, brown-green eyes and answers to the name "Caley"? I thought I knew where she went but it seems she's been replaced by this huge girl in my house now. This new girl always finishes what's on her plate, can read fairly confidently, can clothe herself, draw people with bodies (not just head, arms and legs) brush her own teeth and hair, and even has a loose tooth! This new girl also answers to the name "Caley," so I can't figure out what happened to the other little girl. Also there seems to be another new addition to my home, who curiously looks a lot like the little Caley who is missing and even wears some of her clothes. However this other girl has brown hair, a round face, can read a few letters, and keeps her underwear dry all day. She answers to the name Amelia.
On that note, there seems to be some more shenanigans going on, my little baby is no longer a girl but a boy. The last I remembered I had two kids, Caley and Amelia, who were 2.5 and a baby, but it now seems that baby is a boy and doesn't answer to the name Amelia. Who is playing a trick on me?

Can someone please explain this strange phenomenon to me? What happened to my kids?

:)

Coupon Deals!

I've been couponing for about 6 months and am starting to feel a lot more confident. I primarily shop at Cost Cutter for food and Rite Aid for everything else, like toilet paper, diapers, cosmetic products and medicines. I used to only get diapers at Costco, but by combining sales and coupons at Rite Aid I've been able to build up my stockpile of diapers (we go through them slowly because we also use cloth) for much cheaper or even free. Cost Cutter has a lot of good food deals but I occasionally hit other stores if the deals are irresistible. Still I have some guilt when I do this, but my pocketbook seems to like it so maybe I should just get over it. :)

 In this first picture I shopped at Albertsons and bought 10 packages of cheeses, 5 Cool Whips and 10 ears of corn. Guess how much I paid for all of it?

$5! Buy 5 cheeses, with coupon, get $5 back on your next order (ONYO). Bought 5 more cheeses with coupon, get $5 back. Bought 5 Cool Whips with the ONYO catalinas and 10 corns with another catalina from another previous transaction. BOOYAH!

For this next picture I shopped at Rite Aid. 3 Jumbo packs of diapers, 1 360ct wipes, 2 packages of Dial soap, 2 John Frieda hair products, 2 Ibuprofen, 2 toothbrushes, 1 Listerine. How much did I pay for it?

I think about $6! How? I got the diapers for FREE!! (Actually after rebate I made $2). With the credits I got from the diapers, I bought the other things at a huge discount. Yeah boi!

This last picture is also from Rite Aid. How much did I pay for all this candy? (20 full-size bags of Halloween Candy)

Nothing! Actually I MADE $6. Late last week there was a crazy unadvertised deal at Rite Aid which basically gave out free candy. Buy 10 bags, pay $20 cash, get back in Rite Aid catalinas (+UP rewards) $25! So right there I made $5. Go back again and get 10 bags of candy, pay with the +UP rewards (some left over), get another $25 in +UP rewards. Now I have a grand total of $29 in +UP rewards which can be spent on anything non-prescription at Rite Aid. So basically Rite Aid paid me $6 to take some candy home. I'm usually the Halloween Grinch because candy is expensive and 15 year-olds just walk around the neighborhood in a pillowcase asking for free stuff. But I can be less Grinch-like this year because I got the candy for free too (but I wasn't wearing a pillowcase). And now I can get what my family may really need with the extra +UP rewards at Rite Aid.
Edited to add: Today I went back to Rite Aid for this week's deals and spent the $29 +UP rewards, mostly on items which are free after Rite Aid's Single Check Rebate program. So I got more free stuff AND will be refunded the amount I originally paid for purchase the candy. Holy crap HOW DOES RITE AID DO IT?!!

Awesome.

Month 8

I should probably post something already, since the month is half over. Wesley is 8 months! I can hardly believe it, but I say that every month. Wesley is moving! He is crawling (pretty much) and gets where he wants to go pretty fast. Watch out! Also anything that can be put in his mouth he tries to get in there. Any food, paper, toys, my face...he regularly grabs my hair and pulls my nose or chin into his mouth. It's pretty funny! He loves playing with Caley and Amelia too, and they love playing with him. Usually they play peek-a-boo and it makes him laugh.
My super accurate bathroom scale says Wesley is 18 lbs. I think that's about right. He's huge! (for a Gerlach baby) Both the girls were about 18 lbs at 12 months. He's getting too long for many of his pants and the cloth diaper covers are a bit snug. It makes sense he's a big one because he loves to eat. He eats a lot of things we eat, like crackers, rice and bread, but I still feed him "baby" food like oatmeal, sweet potatoes and plums.
He's not sleeping "through the night" as much as I'd like but he does go to sleep easily and I don't mind getting up one or twice during the night.
Also, he LOVES water! The kids take a bath together and Wesley just splashes the whole time. He also loved going in the pool in Astoria. I love how babies can't contain their excitement and their whole body shakes and kicks. He also loves my phone. It's getting difficult to make a call while holding him because the whole time he just wants to take the phone. So usually I have to put him down to get anything done, which also makes him mad. There's nothing wrong with him, he's just kind of a mama's boy right now. That's okay. One thing's for sure, he's going to be a patient man when he grows up.

We love you Wesley!

Day 17: an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)

I love this painting by Renoir, 1892, mostly because it reminds me of me and my best friend Jennie, a brunette.

Day 16: A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

I've been contemplating this question for a few days and have decided: classical music. None in particular but sometimes we listen to classical music (especially lately since we've been studying music and hearing) and the melodies and power of the instruments hit me like a train.