SIX MONTHS ALREADY?

I can't believe Lennox is 6 months old. I seriously can't believe how fast time flies. I have loved every minute with him, well, almost every minute! I don't have a picture to post today but I will tomorrow. He goes for his 6 month checkup and more shots. I can't wait!
Lennox is doing so many new things. He can kind of sit up by himself but if he leans too far to the right or left, he pretty much falls like a tree to the ground. I tell him to stick his arm out for balance but he prefers to catch himself with his face. He is starting to crawl but it's more of an army crawl and it isn't consistent. My dad and brother 'claim' that he's crawling... I'm not writing it in the baby book yet. He loves to eat in his high chair as long as you do not try to feed him anything green. He will spit peas and green beans right in your face. His favorite foods are pears & peaches I think. He likes bananas and avocados in the little mesh pacifier deal. It is so gross but he LOVES it!
He likes his jumperoo, his tiny books from Aunt Angie & Uncle Sammy (he prefers to eat them rather than have them read to him), his Nuk, rolling around on the floor, grabbing paper and crumpling it, and breathing treatments. Yes, he loves to have a breathing treatment... he's weird! He also loves to have water poured on his head in the bath tub. He doesn't even care if it gets in his eyes. Oh, and he likes to give sugar and pull hair.
Lennox is a very happy baby and I'm so thankful for that. The best thing he does, besides light up the room with his smile, is reach for me when he sees me. I couldn't wait for him to reach for me and it seriously does melt my heart. (I know... so cheesey)
What he doesn't like, besides green food, is having his nails clipped, his nose suctioned, when he can't reach something he wants, being woken up from a nap, and when his bottle is empty. That really makes him mad! Oh, and he's still not much of a fan of the carseat. He's a nosy fella and he doesn't like not being able to see what is going on.

College Savings

Since I've been trying to save money on groceries and household items, I've been cruising the internet for coupons, blogs, tips, etc. I started reading about Upromise on http://www.mommysnacks.blogspot.com/ Maybe I am way behind but this is the first I've heard of that program. Anyway, it seemed like a worthwhile thing to blog about and to sign up for. You register your grocery/drugstore cards like Winn Dixie and CVS to get percentages of your purchase deposited into your Upromise account. You can also register your debit/credit cards and get cash back at select merchants and for certain online purchases. Oh... AND you get ecoupons to use at your grocery/drug stores that accept Upromise. Your coupon amount is credited to your Upromise account. The only problem I have is that most of the stores that participate are not in my area... I wish we had Kroger and Albertsons! All of that Upromise money adds up to college savings. I don't know if you make any interest but you can use the money for your kids college (through a 529 plan or just allowing it to sit in your Upromise account), to repay your own student loans through Sallie Mae, or apparently you can have the money in your account sent to you (don't know the details or penalties associated).

What's the Deal?

Since I've started working part-time, I have really tried to be more cognizant of the money I spend. One of my NYR is to really take advantage of the deals that are out there. I love bargains but, until recently, I didn't realize how much you can save with coupons. I saw on several blogs that you can find some serious deals at CVS. The system sounded kind of complicated but I went to this website http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/03/cvs-101.html and got the run down of how to use the system. I've only made 2 trips but I am addicted. I am going to have to really focus on ONLY buying the things I NEED...

On my 2nd trip, had about $7 in ECBs from my first trip. In total, I spent ~$16 but check out what I got for the money:

• 2 gallons of Nursery water
• 2 tubes Colgate Total
• Palmolive
• Mylicon
• 2 boxes Infant Motrin
• 2 boxes Infant Tylenol
• 2 packs of 10 AA batteries

If I had been more organized, I could have saved $5 more with coupons. However, I am not organized at all and when I got to the store, I couldn't find my coupons. I even went back to the car to search for them (they were on my kitchen table) but only found 3. In my frantic search, I locked my stupid keys in the car. GREAT! But, I got such a great deal that I didn't even get that ticked off about it.

Jay made fun of me and said I was wasting money because I didn't need all of that stuff. I disagree... I will eventually use all of the things I bought. Plus, I needed the batteries and the Tylenol right now and just those 2 things would have normally cost me about $16. Right??

Check out this deal too... I am an avid Hudson's shopper. If you don't live in MS, you're seriously missing out. But, I got this Similac Advanced formula for ~$8. I think it was marked $27.50 and it was 70% off. Now, everything at Hudson's isn't always priced the same way it is in the regular stores but I know this is usually at least $25. I bought about 13 cannisters to last me until Lennox is 1 year old! Some of you may question feeding your child formula from a salvage store but the merchandise wasn't smoke damaged, flooded, or crushed and the seals were not broken and the date was not expired. I only bought 2 at first just to test them and make sure they were ok.

So, since I'm pretty much stocked up for life on Similac I have alot of unused Similac $5 off coupons. If anyone would like to have them, I will be happy to mail them to you. Just send me your mailing address... (ha...like anyone really reads this blog). I see people selling these coupons on ebay.... what is that about?! They are free!

Good Sugar

Lennox LOVES his cousins and they love him too!!

First Plane Ride

I know everyone has been on an airplane with a screaming baby or child. I know, as just a meer passenger, I cringe anytime I see a baby or small child anywhere near my seat. I remember on a flight to Seattle I was stuck in the next to last row on the plane. Behind me was a woman with like 3 small kids. She thought it would be a good idea to give them gum when the plane took off. Ok, that sounds like a reasonable thing to do since they might not know how to pop their own ears. What didn't sound like a reasonable thing to do was to force these 3 small children to spit their gum out after we were in the air. The whole 3 hour flightthe small kids screamed and cried for their gum. I'm not even exaggerating... they were practically having convulsions. I mean really? I know that gum is not good for kids but is it really worth the convulsing fit?? Anyway, I said all of that to say that Lennox had his first airplane ride on Christmas day. I was really kind of nervous because of the previously mentioned reasons. Much to my relief, he was a perfect baby on the flight. The plane was pretty much empty so that, in itself, relieved some of my anxiety but when we took off and he just looked up and smiled... I knew we were all good. He went to sleep about 5 minutes in and didn't wake up until we landed. Perfect!

He looks a bit terrified in this photo but I think he was just spitting... again.

First Christmas

We woke up bright and early Christmas morning to see what Santa brought for Lennox. Jay's parents came over to open presents before we headed to the airport. I had pretty low expectations for Lennox's involvement in opening presents this year but he really surprised me. He loved tearing the paper and he got so excited to see his toys. He would kick his feet really fast and breath hard and squeal.

Holidays

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation. Jay and I were both off of work for two weeks. We started the holidays at my parent's house on Monday night where Lennox got to open his gifts from them before they left for Texas. Thanks Meme and Pop for all the great gifts!

I love my train...

Where ya going?

Somebody please help me!

Ahhh... I've got you now!

We spent Christmas Eve at Jay's parent's house with his 3 sisters, his brother and their families. I think it was one of the best holidays we've had with them. Last year on Christmas Eve, Jay's dad said he had an announcement to make. He said that the kids were growing up and there were no babies anymore so he wanted some babies around next year. He got his wish... 3 babies this year ranging from 5 months to 2 weeks!!!

Spitting... Thanks to Papa for teaching him that trick. I really enjoy that during meal time.

Tiny baby Tristan looks like a little baby doll.

Baby Jenson wasn't feeling too good but he sure looked cute!

Lennox really enjoyed tearing the paper (and eating it)