$2.81 (aka I *heart* Food Lion)

That's right...$2.81 for everything you see pictured below. That's 2 sweet potatoes, 5 bananas, 4 plums, an avacado, a box of cupcake mix, an M5 razor, a pair of school scissors, and a 40-pk of wet wipes for two dollars and eighty-one cents! Food Lion has online coupons that are pretty open-ended and allow for some awesome savings.


The reason I've been going back to couponing is so that I can cut back my work hours to spend more time with this precious little face.

I need to take more pictures

This weekend our friends (Lenny, Cherie, and the kids) were here then yesterday we went to a pool party with my mom's family. I never once took my camera out. What's happening to me?

Anyway, here are a few pictures from last week at the park.

37 cents!

I've been enjoying couponing again. So far this month I have saved over $160! Tonight Rod and I went to Kohl's. We spent $7.64 but we saved $45.65. We got this little outfit for .37. What a deal!

Happy 4 month birthday to James!

Every day James becomes more fun to be around. He is such a precious little guy...I could spend all day just staring into those beautiful blue eyes.

Here are some facts about him now that he is 4 months old:

* He still loves to sleep in complete darkness.

* At night he typically goes to bed at 8:30, gets up to eat around 3:30, then sleeps until 8:30 the next morning. It's a pretty sweet deal!

* James is under the care of his Daddy this summer. Some of the things they enjoy doing each day are: playing on the floor, reading books, going for walks around the yard, listening to music, and taking mid-afternoon naps together.

* He can roll over from his back to tummy and occasionally he surprises himself by flipping back over again.

* Every once in a while he will let out a little giggle (it is by far the cutest sound I have ever heard!) when Rod kisses his tummy.

* He is in love with his pacifier.

* Sometimes, when he is super tired, he hums himself to sleep.

* James is the smilingest baby ever. But when we go out in public he is too interested in exploring the new environment to smile. Our friends probably all think he is a boring little drooling blob.

* He has his own fashion sense. :)

"Mom, this hat is so 2008"

"These glasses make me look like a hunk!"

Random pictures

Here is James posing with his Daddy. He absolutely loves to lay on the floor and talk to himself. It is even more fun for him if someone will get down there and interact with him. Rod is so good about not only taking care of his needs, but also playing with him. James is going to miss having his Daddy all to himself when the schoolyear starts. I was looking through my pictures and realized that I only have a couple of me with James so I decided to snap this self-portrait. It was difficult, though, because one of the cats kept trying to play with the camera strap.

Remember how I told you James can't sleep unless it is totally dark? The next few pictures show you all the crazy ways we have modified our house to accomodate his sleeping needs!

This is the fancy little tent he sleeps in during the day. It is actually one of those crib tents that you're supposed to use to keep toddlers from climbing out of their beds. We put a black tablecloth over it and set it up in our room (which is the darkest room in the house). It looks ridiculous but it works!

James really enjoys the interaction with whoever is changing his diaper. He usually smiles and jabbers the whole time.

He's been holding out on us

James rolled over for the first time yesterday morning and now he acts like he's been doing it all his life! Every time we set him down on his back he immediately flips over. As you can see in this video, he gets so proud of himself as soon as he does it. Unfortunately, he can't go back yet so he usually gets mad after about 10 seconds on his stomach. He is also starting to lose his hair. There is a funny little bald line all the way around the back of his head...hence the nickname "Baldy".

We love Craigslist!

We have gotten a lot of necessities for James off of Craigslist. It is nice not having to buy brand new items that we know he is only going to use for a couple of months. Last night I picked up an exersaucer for $25. I brought it home and did a quick clean of the surface so I could try James in it. After a couple of minutes he started shrieking. We couldn't tell if it was excitement, fear, overstimulation, or if he just happened to find a new noise at that exact moment. We still don't know what the noise was about, but these pictures give you a glimpse into what he thought of the exersaucer.

This is his proud face. Whenever he sits up or stands on our lap or when he is trying to reach for something he makes this face where his top lip sticks out and his eyes become very focused. He thought he was hot stuff in the new exersaucer!