thrifty me

Thanks to some awesome coupons in last Sunday’s paper and some wicked good sales at Target, I managed to get almost $50 worth of groceries for $33! I saved a little more than $15 today. Everything I bought was either on sale or on sale plus a coupon! I’ve been doing internet research on couponing and have discovered that some of these ladies with blogs about frugal living actually offer classes teaching the art of shopping with coupons! I’d kill to take one of those!

Some of these people feed a family of 4 for $150 a month because they are such thrifty shoppers! What a deal! Some people are posting about how the money they are able to save is enough to afford the mom to be able to stay home. That’s my ultimate dream. I’m on a mission!

Here’s a picture of my finds today. I know it’s pasta heavy, but most of the pasta product was on sale for $1!

she wore an itsy bitsy ….

Ever since we discovered that Kaylee can swim like this in her bathtub, I’ve been promising Kris that I will sign them up for swimming lessons at the YMCA as soon as she hits the 6 month mark.

Well today I was at Target and saw that infant swimsuits are already in stock! Soooooo, Lecia helped me pick out this adorable number:

As you can tell, I’m going to need a bigger size. This is an 18 month size, which is ridiculous if you ask me. It barely fits over her slim and trim belly now, there’s no way it will fit in March. This, my fellow ladies, is why women have a complex about their figures. Kaylee is 4 months old and is going to be forced to wear a toddler size in swim suits. What a travesty.

Luckily, she’s too young to develop a complex about this just yet. But when she is old enough, I’ll be sure to teach her that size is just a number … one that does not define who she is as a person.

She’s thinking: “Do these horizontal stripes make my belly look big?”

I can’t wait until March for this bathing beauty to show her stuff in the big pool. Until then, she’s practicing every night in the whale tub. Stay tuned … we know she’s the next Michael Phelps …. minus the drug habit.

10 for 2010

Here are the goals I’m working on for this year … not really resolutions … goals.

1. Set a budget and stick to it.

2. Save, save, save. I want to own a house before I’m old and gray.

3. Help Kris find a new job.

4. Really dedicate myself to making Kaylee’s baby food. I have all the equipment, now I just have to stick to it. My mission in life is for her to eat vegetables.

5. Attend church regularly.

6. Keep my house as clean and organized as possible.

7. Get to my goal weight. All of my gallbladder/pancreas issues have really helped with this one already. Silver lining anyone?

8. Become a savvy coupon shopper. There’s an art to it, and I’m determined to learn it. I want to be the girl who pays $50 for $150 worth of groceries.

9. Update my blog more often. With all these goals I’m bound to have interesting things to say.

10. Cook more often. This will fit nicely into my goal to save money. Plus it will mean that Kris will be eating more than pizza and oatmeal.

Happy New Year everyone!

merry pancreatitis! (longest post ever)

Here’s the story of the Christmas that almost wasn’t.

On Friday, December 18, I went to work, excited about an interview I had set up for a position in another department. I woke up noticing that my throat was sore.  Kaylee had been sick all week, so I figured I was coming down with what she had, which was awful because we were supposed to go to Conroe that weekend to have Christmas with my family and had already missed a celebration with Kris’ family the weekend before because Kaylee wasn’t feeling good at all.

Anyway, I had my interview then went downstairs to the doctor we have in the building. She diagnosed me with an upper respiratory infection, wrote me a prescription for antibiotics that she said I didn’t really need yet, and hurried me on my way.

I went back to my desk and decided I was feeling bad enough to just go home early, especially since I had to take Kaylee to the doctor later that day anyway.

Kris sent me to bed early a lot that weekend but by Sunday I had a Nyquil hangover and a bad case of diarrhea. (TMI, I know, this post is full of it.) I didn’t think too much of that either though since I’d been having “issues” since my gallbladder surgery.

Monday I woke up with a low grade fever, so I called in sick and sent Kaylee to daycare. I took a nap and woke up with some moderate pain that strangely felt like gallbladder pain. It went away in a few minutes, so I went on with my sick day. Still having tummy troubles and now starting to feel nauseous. In the afternoon I got the pain again and a few minutes later started throwing up. At that point I texted Kris that he would have to pick up Kaylee from daycare since I didn’t want to get her germy.

Things went from bad to worse at that point. I couldn’t stop vomiting. I had nothing left in my system thanks to the diarrhea, so I was just vomiting bile. Lots of it. At 4:30 I called Kris in tears and told him I was going to urgent care. We agreed that he would get Kaylee and meet his parents halfway so she could stay with them, and avoid this awful stomach bug.

So I went to urgent care alone. I made it 5 minutes before having to run to the bathroom and throw up. There is nothing more disgusting than sitting alone on a public bathroom floor wretching your guts out. I finally got a room and threw up twice more in their trashcan. I later found a bruise on my forehead from banging it against the back of the can. Get the picture? I was SICK.

In comes the fake doctor. I begged her for Zofran. She sent in a nurse who we’ll call Smoke Smelling Butcher (SSB). SSB couldn’t find a vein to save her life … or mine for that matter. She stuck me 5 times and only achieved 1 IV and 1 glucose test. No blood draw. I didn’t know at the time how unfortunate that fact would become.  I got a liter of fluids and two shots of Zofran and they sent me home. They told me I looked better, less pale and yellow. Hmm.

So I crawled in bed and prayed for Kris to hurry and get home. He went to get my Zofran prescription filled and I fell asleep. The next day I was really weak and the diarrhea just would not quit. I threw up once that night, after talking to Kaylee via web cam.

Wednesday I called my doctor and begged for something to stop the diarrhea. They told me nothing stronger than Imodium existed. I called the girl a liar and hung up on her. My saint of a husband called Dr. Cluff and managed to get me an appointment at 8a.m. Christmas Eve. I just had to survive that day. I tried to eat that day, but nothing tasted good. NOTHING.

Kris had to drive me the next day because I was so weak. I hadn’t eaten since Sunday. We laughed and joked through that visit. Good ol Dr. Cluff gave me a prescription for the drug that “doesn’t exist” and we were on our way. Kris just had to work and then we were on our way to see our baby and finally have Christmas!

What? A blizzard was coming? What? I thought I lived in Texas. We decided to wait until the next day because Kris’ parents were telling us how much snow was falling. We figured it wouldn’t be that bad. We’d wait it out and leave in enough time to get there by noon on Christmas. The pills seemed to be helping my tummy troubles a little, although I still couldn’t eat anything without choking.

Christmas morning I was still really, really weak, but we piled in the car and got on the icy roads. We had a mission and her name was Kaylee. We were NOT missing her first Christmas. It took us a lot longer just to get to Decatur. The roads were solid ice in some spots. Abandoned cars were littering the roadways everywhere. Then Kris’ mom called. 287 was basically closed. We had to turn around or risk sitting for 24+ hours on the road, like other people had. They were sending in military helicopters to rescue stranded travelers. They had gotten 15 inches of snow and had drifts several feet high.

Ok, you can insert crazy, crying, irrational Tammy here. I mean come on people. I live in Texas. I live in TEXAS and my BABY is in another town on CHRISTMAS. It is NOT possible that a blizzard is what’s keeping me from her. I have to be dreaming.

But I wasn’t. We discovered I wasn’t completely dehydrated yet due to the number of tears I was able to cry on the way back to Dallas. Here’s a picture of a snow drift at Kris’ parent’s house. In Texas.

And Gary, shoveling snow.

Yeah. So we stop at IHOP, figuring we’ll eat, then watch a movie and try to make the most of this terrible, terrible day. Except I fell on a patch of ice in the parking lot.

What? You don’t think this story could get worse. Keep reading. It does.

We got home and both took a nap. Until I woke up vomiting again. At this point I told Kris we had to go to the ER because it just wasn’t normal for me to be throwing up again after this many days.

Off we went to my new favorite hospital. After an hour wait, we got a room. The nurse found a vein for an IV, another nurse got blood after two tries and we waited. And waited. And then the doctor came in and said I had a bacterial infection and would get antibiotics. But then he came back and said, with a puzzled look, that my bloodwork showed signs of pancreatitis.

Ok, I don’t drink. I had my gallbladder removed. How in the hell do I have pancreatitis? He told me that my numbers would warrant an admission and fun-filled 3 day stay, but if I promised to follow a clear liquid diet for 3 days, I could go home. I promised.

Meanwhile, Kaylee was having a fun time in the snowy wonderland. I am glad she got to have Christmas with Kris’ family. I know she had fun and was loved on more than she could stand. And she was clearly thrilled with her presents!

Back to my ordeal. Those 3 days were the longest of my life. I hadn’t eaten since the previous Sunday. We got Kris’ parents to bring Kaylee home the next day. I finally started feeling better, thanks to the antibiotics. I was living on Gatorade, Sprite, water and Jell-O, but Kaylee brought the light back into my life.

I got another appointment with Dr. Cluff on Monday. O wait, I didn’t mention that I was now missing my second week of work. I’m totally employee of the year for 2009. Poor Dr. was horrified he missed pancreatitis. I told him he didn’t miss it, crappy fake doctor at urgent care missed it. Note to self: Never go to urgent care again. Last time I went I ended up partially deaf for a weekend and had to go to an ENT to get earwax vacuumed out of my ear after the fake doctor there tried to irrigate my ear.

I told you this was the longest post ever.

Dr. wanted more bloodwork. Well, here’s the deal. By now my veins were shot. I was weak. I was dehydrated. She tried 3 or 4 times to get my blood. Sent me to drink a bottle of water and then tried again. Then she told me to come back the next day. Great.

She did get the blood the next day, thank God. I’ve been stuck a total of 11 times for 2 IVs, two rounds of bloodwork and 1 glucose finger stick. Ridiculous. The nurse called and told me that my levels still aren’t back to normal, so this journey will continue into 2010 because I have to go back in 2 weeks for more bloodwork.

The doctor really thinks this is nothing more than an isolated occurrence brought on by the infection in my intestines. I hope so. I’m scared and just want to be healthy.

So until then, blog friends, I’ll be eating copious amounts of double noodle chicken noodle soup, drinking lots of water, counting my blessings and dreaming of a better Christmas next year.

Happy New Year!

the wonder of Christmas

My hope for each of you this holiday season is to take the time to see the wonder of Christmas through a child’s eyes.

question

What do you do when you change the baby’s diaper and she’s so content on the changing table that she falls asleep?

Do you stand there until she wakes up?

Do you strap her on and leave her there?

Do you pick her up and pray she doesn’t wake up? (hint: the answer to this one is NO. always NO!)

The correct answer is none of the above.

You strap her on and move the changing pad to the couch so you can continue cleaning!

babies don’t keep

I hope that my child, looking back on today
Will remember a mother who had time to play;
Because children grow up while you’re not looking,
There are years ahead for cleaning and cooking.
So, quiet now cobwebs, dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby, and babies don’t keep.

Well, I’m almost 12 weeks in to this whole momma gig. In so many ways, being a mom is just what I thought it would be like. When I came down with a severe case of baby fever last fall, I would look at pictures of other people’s babies and imagine what it would be like to have one of my own.

I imagined rocking my baby to sleep, dressing it in cute outfits, learning all I could about bottles and strollers and carseat safety. I imagined being super mom, who would cook and clean and do crafts and always give heartfelt gifts “from baby” because those memories are some of the ones I hold dear from my own childhood. I remember loving coming home and having my mom there and being so excited if I had a handmade doo dad, dripping with glitter and tons of Elmer’s glue to proudly present her.

As I grew up I loved pulling out Christmas ornaments that I made in school and placing them carefully on the tree each year … and sorting through old schoolwork and art projects that she saved through the years. I loved anything that could be called a tradition, and still do.

I guess what I’m saying is that I always wanted to be the kind of mom that my mom has been. Sure sometimes she was stressed and there was yelling, but what I remember most is the fun I had as a kid.

So, how am I doing at creating that kind of childhood for Kaylee so far?

Well, for starters it’s hard to be super mom when I have to work full time. But I’m still trying … so far I don’t feel like I’ve compromised on any of my dreams for Kaylee, except for filling out her baby book. I need to get on that.

Her birth announcements were handmade and her nursery turned out just like I dreamed, with lots of personalized touches. The majority of our Christmas gifts will be those heartfelt gifts from baby that I love so much. I’m determined to make her baby food once she starts solids. She’s a little young to do fun crafts of her own, so I do them for her. I’m already planning her first birthday bonanza and the lunch I’m hosting after her dedication at church. Kris and I take so much video of her that she’ll practically be able to re-live her first year on DVD when she’s older.

Now that I’m back at work I’m trying hard to never rush through her nighttime routine, even when there is a sink full of dirty dishes and laundry that needs to be done and bathrooms that haven’t seen “clean” since my 6th month of pregnancy and a husband who is surviving on a diet of oatmeal and water because I never stop at the grocery store on the way home from work because that’s one less minute I get to spend with Kaylee. I make it a point to cherish the few precious hours per day that I get to spend with my angel baby. I listen to her talk, melt at every smile and breathe in that sweet baby smell when she falls asleep in my arms.

I find myself holding her close even after she’s breathing in soft baby snores, because I know in just a few short months she’ll be wiggling out of my arms, ready to explore her world without me.

I let her stay in the bathtub a little longer than the cold temperatures should allow because she gets such pure joy out of crashing around in the water.

I sing and dance for her, but can’t ever remember any entire nursery rhymes, so I just sing Amazing Grace over and over.

So yes, I’d say that so far, I’m doing everything in my power to create the magical childhood for Kaylee that I hope and pray she has. And tonight when I get home I’ll shut out the nonsense and stress of the outside world, climb over a pile of clutter and laundry and settle in to rock my baby … because babies don’t keep.

snow and snoozing

This morning we woke up to snowfall in Dallas! On December 2! If this is any indication of what’s to come this winter, I need to beef up Kaylee’s winter wardrobe. Right now she just rotates between the two fleece pajamas that fit her at the moment. I’m so afraid she’ll be cold!

This is the scene I had to leave this morning:

What I wouldn’t give to have crawled back in bed to snuggle with my two favorite people.

I opened the door to this:

Brrrrrrrr. By the time it was all over, there was accumulation on buildings and trees. And we’re supposed to get more on Friday! Did I move to snow country? Ha. Ha.

And this is what Miss Kaylee is up to right now:

Snug as a bug in a rug. Or in this case, a frog on a lily pad.

my head is round. i am in control.

No, that’s not some ritualistic chant we are teaching Kaylee. It’s the marketing messages on the back of the box that contained her brand new Boppy play mat that the friendly neighborhood UPS man delivered tonight. Thanks to her great aunt and uncle and second cousins, she’s the proud owner of a lily pad she can call her own.

Before I got pregnant, I had visions of her “supervised play” also known as “tummy time” looking something like this:

Charming, huh?

Instead, her supervised tummy time looks like this:

and this:

She thinks tummy time is for chumps and would rather spit up on her new dragonfly boppy and chew on her fists.

Don’t worry, her head is pretty round. And she’s certainly in control … she screams bloody murder and we pick her up and rescue her from the horrors of supervised play.

For now, we’ll consider her a tummy time drop out. But we’re working on it …

guess what? i don’t care.

**disclaimer** this post contains blatant statements of jealously. Don’t be offended if you are a stay at home mom. I warned you. **

I made a mad dash through Target on my lunch break today. I needed more water for Kaylee’s bottles, I had formula coupons to spend and a few other things were on my list. I meandered through the kid’s clothing section, wishing the cute fleece feetie pajamas were $4 instead of $8 and then made my way to the book section.

Standing in the middle of one of the aisles were two women in workout clothes chatting loudly about their charmed lives. A third middle of the day workout lady was in the card section and must have turned the corner to see her long-lost friends and this is the conversation that ensued:

“O my gosh. It’s so good to see you. Did you just work out too?”

“Yes, and I haven’t had a shower yet. You look better than me. At least you have a hat to wear.”

“Yeah, I didn’t shower either. Who has time to go home and shower? I have WAY too much to do.”

“Tell me about it. Little spoiled Susie wanted me to pick her up from school today and I told her I just don’t have the time. Besides, I can’t go there looking like this.”

I wanted to ram them with my basket.

1. Get out of my way. Target isn’t a social gathering place. Go out for skinny lattes or something instead of blocking the aisles for all of  us poor working moms who neither have time to work out, or chat up our friends in Target at 12:30 in the afternoon.

2. Don’t go to Target during working people’s lunch hour. It’s just annoying.

3. I seriously don’t care that you don’t have time for a shower after your fancy pants workout. I don’t have time to stop after work to pick up water for my kid’s formula before rescuing her from the daycare where strangers have been caring for her all day.

4. Yes, I’m jealous of your life. And at the moment, that is manifesting itself in this bitter tirade on my blog.

Guess what else?

My engagement ring fits again! Now I’m constantly banging it on stuff and am worried the diamond will fall out.

And Kaylee pooped in her whale tub last night. It was the funniest, yet most disgusting thing to date. She was flailing about gleefully … sending water cascading over the edges of the tub, then all of a sudden her face turned red and the water turned brown. God, I love that kid.