The Fun Little Activities We Attend...

We attended a baby fair where they had a bunch of booths and such.  We found these little cute onesies that we thought were funny.  This is for Julie and Lizzy and then Cameron and Jake.  They just need to put this on Ollie and walk around and they will be chick magnets.  :)  The shirts say I Heart My Uncle and Aunt and *Contact Info Available Upon Request.  Uncle:  cool, hip, funny, successful, hot, generous.  Aunt:  amazing, smart, funny, stunning, generous.

Above is a picture of Ollie in some of the cars they had at the baby fair to look at.  He was ready to go. Taking after his cousin Trent *Honk Honk


We just can't help taking pics of Ollie in church.  (usually during sunday school).  He loves playing with the pew in front of us.  Here he is hanging on for dear life ;)

Another picture we took at church is of Ollie with his little friend Trinity.  She is about 2 months here and Ollie is 5 months.  Quite a difference is size!

 Ollie is quite the gymnast.  Here he is balancing on one foot!  Go Ollie!

A visit to a Bookmans Sporting Goods Store just to look around.  Ollie is impersonating Huckleberry Finn here!

 We found another splash pad here in Tucson.  This one was a LOT more busy with kids running every which way!  There were some areas with buckets that fill up and then pour out the water on whoever is beneath them.  We just got there and Dave was walking under one of those and that water came down fast and hard!  I think it scared Ollie, and the water was cold.  Eventually Ollie started to like running through the water, it just took a little while.  The splash pads are a fun little summer activity to do.

Along the lines of swimming, Ollie has been doing so well in his swim class!  The whole time we have been going, we work on this exercise to prepare them to go under water:  We hold a little bucket that has holes in it and say 1-2-3 UP DOWN (moving our body up then down) and then we say UNDER and we put the water on his head.  He has learned through this exercise that when I count 1-2-3 and he feels my body go up then down he knows he has to close his eyes and close his mouth.  He has been doing really well lately so I decided it was time for him to go under water.  The instructor held him and I gave the cues and he closed his eyes just right and she dove him into the water and out into my arms.  Granted, he was just under a little bit.  Half his head was sticking out still.  But I was so proud.  He came up and didn't choke or anything.  He just seemed totally fine.  Such a cute little swimmer!

Poor Ollie taking after his momma already.  I've always battled with acne.  Here is Ollie's first juicy pimple.  It took all our self control to not pop it for him.  So someday Ollie I will show you this picture and you can see that you got your first pimple when you were 5 months old!  Congratulations ;).

On our daily morning walks, Ollie usually zones out a little.  But this day he was REALLY zoned out. I noticed he hadn't moved in a long time so I peek around to see if he was sleeping.  He had his little piece of giraffe fabric just sitting partially in his open mouth.  He moved just enough to look up at me.  It made me laugh.

Poor Ollie didn't want his picture taken. Oh well.  I had to get a picture of his sweet U of A shirt and toy that he got as a prize for participating in a U of A psychology study.  The graduate student that worked with him was so sweet.  She held Ollie while I filled out a form.  Ollie kept looking at me over her shoulder with this timid frown like "why is she taking me away from my mom?"  It was the first of Stranger Danger i've seen from him.  It was kind of endearing. For the study he has to sit on my lap in a dark room and stare and a screen as the image changed and the lady talked to him thru a speaker.  They didn't want me influencing him so I had to wear ear phones and a visor so I could only see him.  He kept looking up at me for reassurance and then would stare at the screen again.  It was cute to see him at work :).  He did a good job though.  Very Cooperative.

I think Ollie looks good in red!

Ollie's new FAVORITE thing is this jumper.  He gets his little legs going and can catch a LOT of air!  He babbles and squeals while in that chair.  It is cute! It is probably the only toy we have that keeps his attention for more than 15 minutes.

Here Ollie and I were playing on the bed.  Decided to take some selfies.

So I decided to organize a girls night at my house.  I just needed it.  Sometimes doing the same thing day in and day out just gets monotonous.  So I went on facebook and sent a message to about 7 girls in my ward and asked if they would be interested.  They all seemed excited about it.  So I told them I would make chocolate fondue and asked them to all bring something to dip in it.  I also told them to bring a deck of cards because we got our NERTZ on!  We had SO MUCH SWEETS.  Our table was full of marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, pretzels, shortbread, sticky buns, watermelon (not for dipping :), figs, and apples.  It was delicious.  We had six ladies come, but 2 had to leave early because they had babies at home.  Luckily Ollie went to sleep before everyone got there.  We had so much fun and plan to do it again soon.  We spent about 1 1/2 hour talking and eating fondue.  Then started nertz at like 8:30 or so.  Then we played until 10:30!  It was a late night, but so fun! I am so happy to have gotten to know a few really amazing ladies in my ward.

It has been about 5 months since I have been to the temple.  (Longest i've gone since I got married.)  We went down to Thatcher to see the fam and Julie came down from Gilbert.  We took advantage of free babysitting from grandma and went to an endowment session. I fed Ollie and then put him down for a nap and then took off. He is usually happiest after a nap and in the mid morning/early afternoon. So I hoped he would be good for Kathy.  I left a bottle just in case, but he didn't take it of course. The temple was packed!  I think there were 2 wards there.  So we waited a long time before they fit everyone in.  I was scared we weren't going to get to participate.  There was a new movie in the session which was really neat to watch. I learned knew things from watching it.  We got home and Kathy was rocking Ollie and he was almost asleep.  I picked him up and in seconds he crashed on my shoulder.  Everything went well.  He got a little fussy toward the end, but i'm happy it all worked out because now we can go to the temple more often.

Julie brought her ZUMBA Wii Game and her, Kathy and I had a grand ole time shaking our hips.  We did a 60 minute work out.  Toward the end I was beat! The nice thing is I am feeling more healthy and back to how I used to be the more I exercise. I wish I lived closer to them, I would try to ZUMBA with them often!

I also got to see my awesome friend Katie.  We went out to lunch on Monday during her lunch break.  We went to a little Mexican shack in Pima and it was really good (and cheap:).  I think I might try that place again!

Before we went to Thatcher, Dave had to clean the dental office her works for.  Ollie and I went with him and hung out.  I had a little fun with Oliver....

DR OLLIE IS READY TO SEE YOU!

Oh The Awkwardness of Being a Mom...

I just have to express that I TOTALLY did not appreciate the ease with which I could accomplish tasks before I had a baby.  I took it for granted.  Now it seems that even the most simple task of picking something off the floor and getting a drink of water is a hurdle.  I had to jot down some awkward situations I find myself in. Some of these things happen just because I have a child, but other things happen because I am sleep deprived (courtesy of having a baby) and don't always think clearly.

Committing to a plan is very hard with a baby.  Someone asks "what time can you do it"?  Truthfully, who knows?  Ollie is not predictable yet.  His wake up time, nap time, grumpy time, etc changes from day to day so I have no idea what time is a good time to do something. I made a commitment to myself that I wouldn't let having a baby keep me from getting out of the house and being social.  So my attitude is that I can always TRY to do something, if it doesn't work because Ollie gets grumpy, Oh well!  At least I tried! And I don't hold it against Ollie, he can't help it.  I will say this though, there are few things more stressful than driving in a car with a screaming baby.  I'm amazed at how long-winded this kid is!  I think the record for me was 45 minutes of crying in a car.  And it just kept escalating to the point where I think he was growling/crying at me.  On that particular occasion I stopped a LOT before I decided to just go.  He was fed and had a clean diaper.  What more could I do? I had to get home.  But I will say this, hearing that baby screaming in the back seat sure gives me a lead foot.  It makes me want to plop a siren on my roof that will allow everyone to hear Ollie screaming so they will have pity and move out of my way.

One of the most awkward situations I have been in happened while I was shopping at Target.  I was going to run in there to get just a few things.  Oliver has been riding in the shopping cart pretty well and it is much more enjoyable for him to be able to look around, so I plopped him in the front part of the cart and ran in. Well a few minutes in, he started getting fussy and purposefully not holding himself up in the cart.  He kept diving to the left and to the right.  Finally I just picked him up and he fussed a little and then laid his head on my shoulder.  The next thing I knew he was asleep.  Well I didn't have anything to put him in so I had to finish my shopping trip while holding him. Any mom knows how fun it is to hold a child with one hand and push a cart with the other.  Especially with that child is completely limp.  I was trying to lean back a little to keep him from tipping over off my shoulder.  I was a sight.  Then I get to the check out, and by then my arm is shaking and feels like it is going to fall off. 20 pounds of limp baby being held with one arm = HEAVY! I had decided to stock up on baby food and bought about 20 of the little double pack foods.  So here I go.  In gymnast "back bend" style I arch my back, bend deep down into the cart, pick up one baby food while balancing Ollie, put it on the stand then do it again one by one, TWENTY times.  The lady in front of me points out to her son that I have a baby, but does she help me? No.  Finally I check get it all up and check out.  Does anyone offer me help out to the car? No.  So I take a deep breath as I begin to have no feeling in my arm and proceed out the doors.  I start to cross the parking lot right in front of the store where it is most busy and I drop my keys.  I stop and look down then look up and see my cart continue to move forward without me.  So I run after the cart, stop it, then run back by my keys so no one will run me over.  All while holding sleeping, limp Ollie.  I'm eyeing down those keys pretty good trying to figure out in my head how I am going to bend over and get them when FINALLY someone notices a mommy in distress and asks if I need help.  I say YES PLEASE.  She gets my keys for me and asks "Do you want me to take your cart to the car and help you unload?" Again I say YES PLEASE! This sweet girl was at Target buying stuff for a baby shower for her sister.  She unloads my stuff and takes my cart for me and I just sit there thinking she is an angel.  Another fun situation is when I am in a long line and Ollie starts crying.  People usually give me "looks" but not often does anyone offer to let me go ahead.

Another activity where I find myself in a lot of awkward situations is when I am cooking. I can usually get Ollie to sit cooperatively for about 20 minutes in his bumbo, walker, or on the floor.  But asking more of him is just too much.  This little guy REALLY likes me to hold him.  And I would willingly oblige if he were about 10 pounds lighter.  I have learned really quick that it is not a good idea to hold him when dealing with hot or sharp things.  I have had a lot of mishaps lately that gratefully have either barely missed him or I was not holding him at the time.  One time I was putting food into a pot of boiling water and one fell off my fork too soon and SPLASH.  I was holding Ollie and the water just BARELY missed his leg and landed on my leg.  I had a burn there for weeks. I was just glad it wasn't Ollie.  (PS, I have bad luck with this.  I was responsible for my 1 year old nephew burning his hand on a hot cookie sheet.) Another time Ollie was sitting in his bumbo at the table while Dave fed him some rice cereal and while I was cooking dinner.  I had just baked a yummy loaf of bread and it was sitting on the stove cooling in a GLASS bread pan.  I turn on a burner to boil a pot of water and continue doing other things.  The next thing I know I smell something burning and realize I turned on the burner underneath my bread!  The smoking loaf had a nice charcoaled layer at the bottom and was really hot.  My first thought was to get it off the hot burner to somewhere cooler.  So I pick it up and put it on the top part of the sink.  I back up a few step and BOOM.  Sounded like a gun shot. Next thing I know, shattered pieces of glass are everywhere.  I say "ow my toe!" I look down and the ONLY part of my body that got hit by glass was right between my left little toe and the toe next to it.  I think the glass got stuck there for a second because there was a big burn blister.  I am soooo grateful I wasn't holding Oliver at the time! But seriously? How did glass land between my little toes?  I must spread them when I am scared or something! Dave could tell I was flustered so he told me to take a breather and he cleaned up all the glass for me.  Such a good hubby! Then he cut off the crust of out bread and we still ate the insides :).

Here is a picture of my ugly toe blister from the glass!

  While cooking, I have gotten really good at getting in an awkward position of putting one leg up against the cupboard and holding Ollie on that leg while doing something with my other hand.  Getting dinner completed every night is always a battle.  Ollie gets tired/cranky around 5 PM and usually wants to take a nap only in my arms (if I lay him down for that nap he wakes up instantly).  So usually I get dinner done in phases.  I chop an onion here, cook noodles there.  And usually it isn't totally complete until after I put him to sleep at 6:30.

Having a kid takes sleeping to a whole different hemisphere for me! I am a night owl.  I enjoy staying up.  I have always been that way.  I'm pretty sure my parents have never implemented a bedtime in my life.  So I am used to staying up.  Even when I had school or work, I would usually go to bed at 12 or 1 AM and just make it up on the weekends by sleeping in. Ollie is the complete opposite of me.  If I dare keep him up past 7 he will make my life miserable until I get him to sleep.  That is one trait he has gotten from me, HE REALLY LIKES HIS SLEEP. :) Try as I may to go to bed early so I can get up with him in the middle of the night and then early at 5 or 6, I just can't. That will be a work in progress. Dave has gotten up a few times on the weekend with Ollie so I can sleep in until 8 or so.  Ollie often gets up at the ripe time of 5:30.  Dave commented after getting up with him "I don't know how you do this every morning".  (I don't either, I just do what I got to do--but that doesn't mean I don't act like a zombie for the first 3 hours of my day either).  Usually I go to bed and wake up questioning whether I actually even got any sleep (that's how I feel at least).  But on the flip side, if Ollie DOES allow me to have a longer than 4 or 5 hour stretch of sleep, I wake up wondering if he is still alive.  Just can't win! Also, the post-birth dreams I have had are intense! They are some of the most vivid and horrifying dreams I have ever had.  They are just so real!  I think it is safe to say they are even worse than my odd pregnancy dreams.  Yesterday the Dr I used to work for text me and asked if I would be interested in temping occasionally.  Last night, I had a nightmare I went to work and forgot to pump milk so Ollie had NOTHING to eat/drink while I was gone.  And on top of that, I had a deep scaling and root planing in my dream and seemed to just not be able to MOVE.  It took me 3 hours and everyone was so mad at me.   I woke up in a cold sweat!

The muscle it takes to lug around a baby is insane!  I seriously have gotten stronger since having Ollie.  It doesn't help that he grows like a weed so he never gives my muscles a chance to catch up.  For a while I was picking him up using my back and I threw out my lower back SO BAD.  It hurt!  I DREADED having to get him out of his crib or bend over for anything.  Finally I got that fixed and now have been trying really hard to use my legs.  I have gotten really good at squats.  I wake up every morning feeling like I had a hard work out the day before.  Carrying Ollie's carseat is a joke.  I look crazy wobbling around holding that thing.  I have been walking every morning and doing an ab/core workout video 3 times a week.  I am trying to get one step ahead of Ollie :).

Being a mom can be messy.  I have had spit up on my shirt, pants, hair, face, arm, leg, etc.  Do I run and wash it off or change or jump in the shower?  Nope.  What's the point?  I have been pooped on and peed on more than I can count.  But I have gotten really good at getting poop stains out of outfits!  Cleaning the house is so hard.  I try to do one thing a day, so at least it DOES get clean.  However, this means it is never clean at the same time.  So sometimes it doesn't seem like I am doing anything.

Well I am sure I have a lot more to look forward to once my little guy is mobile.  But with all the craziness that accompanies being a mom, I will say it is the most rewarding thing I have ever done.  I wouldn't even know what to do with myself if all of a sudden I didn't have Ollie anymore.  He is my calling, why I am here on earth.  I have the blessing of raising a family and teaching them about God and Christ and filling my kiddos' little minds with wisdom, kindness, charity.  It is a challenge, but one that I will do my best at.

Family, Food, and Couponing

Dave had the brilliant idea to put a shelf in our kitchen!  I LOVE IT!  We have a small pantry which held a lot of our food and appliances and was getting WAY too full.  When my mom came to help me after I had Oliver, she would ask where I kept certain items, and when I told her it was in that pantry should would almost start crying. haha.  She called it "the CHOKEY" (from Matilda).  She would go in there in search of an item and be in there for a good 10 minutes.  Well, now she doesn't need to fear!

 

We got visits from my family and Dave's family this weekend. It was fun seeing them.  I think they were taking advantage of their last chance to travel before school started.  My family came up for 2 nights and Daves family was just here for a few hours.  I took my family to tour San Xavier del Bac Catholic Mission.  It got us out of the house and wasn't too far away.  Neat structure. Unfortunately they don't have A/C in the building and during a lot of the tour all I could think was 'I need fresh air'! Ollie was a good sport and was totally chill during the whole tour.  Papi held him the whole time.  There is quite a bond between my dad and Ollie, Ollie seriously loves him! It was fun having them. We ate good food and played cards and enjoyed each other's company!

Sunday was interesting.  I woke up with Mastitis AGAIN!  That is the third time I have had that dumb thing.  Mastitis affects breastfeeding women and it is a clogged duct.  Then the area gets super inflamed and infected and starts to affect the surrounding areas so it all hurts A LOT.  Then you get flu-like symptoms and feel cold and weak and miserable.  Sounds fun eh? We had invited a few friends from church over that night for dinner and games and I didn't want to cancel.  So here comes super hero husband and he let me take a nap while he made a delicious roast dinner with lion house (made from scratch) rolls and a chocolate dessert all while helping me with Ollie.  Two worst things in the world (being a little dramatic):  having your baby be sick (awful) and being sick while you have a baby that needs your constant attention.  Both can leave you feeling helpless and exhausted. After my nap I took an ibuprofen and actually felt a lot better.  I was then able to enjoy the night with Tarlton and Marissa.  After dinner we taught them how to play Hand and Foot.  We love having game buddies!

Ok, I apologize if you get sick of hearing me talk about food.  But food is a big part of my life and brings me so much joy!  haha.  Being a mom, life can get a little monotonous and this may sound silly, but trying new recipes and getting to see how they turn out is really fun for me. It just adds that little splash of excitement and mystery to my day.  So here are two recipes that were a lot of work, but turned out AMAZING!  

Dish #1: Flour's Famous Sticky Bun.  Dave and I watch a show on Food Network called Throwdown with Bobby Flay.  Basically it is a challenge between a well-known chef and a local business person that claims to make a specific food item really well.  Well this episode was about sticky buns, and the lady challenger won!  We've been meaning to try them for awhile and finally got the chance. Dave's friend Spencer invited us over for dinner and asked us to bring a dessert.  I didn't have to make dinner that night so I had the time to dedicate my energy on this dessert.  One word:   HEAVEN.  Holy cow.  These things were GOOD.  I'm salivating just looking at this picture.

Ingredients
Goo:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks; 170 grams, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups (345 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (110 grams) honey
1/3 cup (80 grams) heavy cream
1/3 cup (80 grams) water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Basic Brioche Dough, recipe follows
1/4 cup (55 grams) light brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (100 grams) pecan halves, toasted and chopped
Directions
First, make the goo. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, to combine (it may look separated, that's ok). Remove from the heat and whisk in the honey, cream, water, and salt. Strain to remove any undissolved lumps of brown sugar. Let cool for about 30 minutes, or until cooled to room temperature. You should have about 3 cups. (The mixture can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.)

Divide the dough in half. Use half for this recipe and reserve the other half for another use.

On a floured work surface, roll out the brioche into rectangle about 12 by 16 inches and 1/4-inch thick. It will have the consistency of cold, damp Play-Doh and should be fairly easy to roll. Position the rectangle so a short side is facing you.

In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and half of the pecans. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the entire surface of the dough. Starting from the short side farthest from you and working your way down, roll up the rectangle like a jelly roll. Try to roll tightly, so you have a nice round spiral. Trim off about 1/4- inch from each end of the roll to make them even.

Use a bench scraper or a chef's knife to cut the roll into 8 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2-inches wide. (At this point, the unbaked buns can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 1 week. When ready to bake, thaw them, still wrapped, in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours, then proceed as directed.)

Pour the goo into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish, covering the bottom evenly. Sprinkle the remaining pecans evenly over the surface. Arrange the buns, evenly spaced, in the baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm spot to proof until the dough is puffy, pillowy, and soft and the buns are touching-almost tripled in size, about 2 hours.

Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat to 350 degrees F.

Bake until golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool in the dish on a wire rack for 20 to 30 minutes. One at a time, invert the buns onto a serving platter, and spoon any extra goo and pecans from the bottom of the dish over the top.

The buns are best served warm or within 4 hours of baking. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, and then warmed in a 325 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes before serving.

Brioche Dough:
2 1/2 cups (350 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
2 1/4 cups (340 grams) bread flour
1 1/2 packages (3 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast or 1-ounce (28 grams) fresh cake yeast
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (82 grams) sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 cup cold water
6 eggs
1 3/8 cups (2 3/4 sticks; 310 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 10 to 12 pieces
Using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the all-purpose flour, bread flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water, and 5 of the eggs. Beat on low speed for 3 to 4 minutes, or until all the ingredients are combined. Stop the mixer, as needed, to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure all the flour is incorporated into the wet ingredients. Once the dough has come together, beat on low speed for another 3 to 4 minutes. The dough will be very stiff and seem quite dry.

With the mixer on low speed, add the butter, 1 piece at a time, mixing after each addition until it disappears into the dough. Continue mixing on low speed for about 10 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. It is important for all the butter to be thoroughly mixed into the dough. If necessary, stop the mixer occasionally and break up the dough with your hands to help mix in the butter.

Once the butter is completely incorporated, turn up the speed to medium and beat until the dough becomes sticky, soft, and somewhat shiny, another 15 minutes. It will take some time to come together. It will look shaggy and questionable at the start and then eventually it will turn smooth and silky. Turn the speed to medium-high and beat for about 1 minute. You should hear the dough make a slap-slap-slap sound as it hits the sides of the bowl. Test the dough by pulling at it; it should stretch a bit and have a little give. If it seems wet and loose and more like a batter than a dough, add a few tablespoons of flour and mix until it comes together. If it breaks off into pieces when you pull at it, continue to mix on medium speed for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until it develops more strength and stretches when you grab it. It is ready when you can gather it all together and pick it up in 1 piece.

Put the dough in a large bowl or plastic container and cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the surface of the dough. Let the dough proof (that is, grow and develop flavor) in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or up to overnight At this point you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/throwdown-with-bobby-flay/joanne-changs-sticky-buns-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Dish #2: This may not look that amazing, but it was my first stab at"Wingers Style Buffalo Wings".  I bought the whole wings of a chicken so I had to crack a lot of bones to separate the parts I needed.  I told Dave that I kind of lose my appetite cracking through so many bones.  I'd rather have done the preparation the day before and just had to cook them right before eating them.  Oh Well.  But this homemade sauce was sweet with a kick and OH SO GOOD!  I say it was a success!

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
Pinch salt
20 (or so) chicken wings or thighs
Oil for deep frying
Sauce:
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup Franks hot sauce
1/4 cup water
2 Tbls. Honey


In a bowl mix together the flour, cayenne and salt. Place chicken
wings in a large bowl and toss with flour mixture until they are
evenly coated (or you can do it the Shake n' bake way and put it all in
a large bag, do 5 or so wings at a time so they get evenly coated).
Cover bowl and refrigerate for about an hour. For the sauce, bring all
the ingredients to a boil and then simmer for 2 minutes. Pour over
wings and serve!



So I had a small couponing victory this week.  Fry's doubles all coupons (up to $1 I believe).  Well they were have a lot of 5 for $5 deals and I feel like I got a lot of good stuff.  I purchased: chicken, cereal, granola bars, cheese, gum, eggs, ice cream cereal, cleaning supplies, laundry supplies, floss, shaving supplies etc).  The total came to $84 even after scanning my fresh value card.  After coupons and such it came down to $44.  WOO HOO!  I cut my bill in half! I only spent $10 on all the non-food items.
These websites help me a lot:
krazycouponladies.com
grocerysmarts.com
thecentsableshoppincom

It gets quite addicting couponing.  But unfortunately I don't have that much time to dedicate to it or I might do even better!  But every little bit helps!

Oliver is 5 Months! Our Gerber Baby!

Oliver is growing like a weed.  Seriously.  I feel like I am carrying around a sack of potatoes.  But he is definitely making his Momma nice and buff!  We have heard from a lot of people that Oliver looks like the Gerber baby.  So I looked up what the Gerber baby looks like, what do you think?

Minus the lower hairline, hair wings on the side and super luscious eyelashes I would say there are lots of similarities!  We love our cute little gerber baby!

Well no doctor visit this month (THANK GOODNESS--no shots!), but that means we don't have any stats on our little one.  Like I said, just know he is still long, heavy, and has a big head.  If he gets my height and Dave's muscle, our little guy may grow to be a super athlete!  I want him to get in to tennis, and Dave wants him to get in to baseball.  We also thought it would be cool if he was good at Volleyball or Gymnastics.  But I guess we shall see!

Get ready for the obsessive momma photo shoot of Ollie.  I just can't stop clicking that camera!

Some new recent happenings from our little 5 month old. He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth (or at least tries).  A lot of times just his hands make it into his mouth while holding an object. He rolled over for the FIRST time yesterday (8/7/13).  I was making him have some tummy time, which usually he lasts about 3 minutes or so.  I was looking at my phone and not really paying attention and then all of a sudden I look up and he is half way over and flips on his back!  I've tried to get him to do it again, but alas, hasn't happened.  I was so excited though!  I love watching my big boy learn new tricks!  

He also has begun to experience the lifetime enjoyment and pleasure of eating food!  Granted, it is just rice cereal.  But it is exciting!  I love food, and I rarely cook the same thing twice (unless it is our few favorite staples).  So he better not be picky, or he is going to starve.  He did really good eating the cereal.  The first bite he made the funniest face, but after that you could tell he wanted more.  He even got super excited and proud of himself after the first bite and started chuckling and flailing his arms everywhere.  It was super cute.  He started reaching for the spoon at times and opening his mouth ready for a big bite.  He didn't eat a ton the first day, but the second day he finished what I had.  He always has been a good nurser, so I'm sure he will be a good eater too :).  I enjoy experiencing this with him!  And i'm excited now Daddy can share in the feeding experience with Ollie. 

Here Ollie is showing off how flexible he is.

Ollie's "Good Morning" Face!

Old Man Ollie in his Rocking Chair

Ok so on Saturday, Dave has the fun idea to go check out a splash pad the is near our house.  Basically it has water squirting out of the ground and it is a fun way to run around and get wet.  Maybe Oliver is a little young for this, but he still enjoyed getting out and playing in the water (after the initial shock of squirt gun like water spraying him in the face).  Another thing Dave and I realized, that this is a free wash up station for homeless people! How nice.

Ollie was in this position at church during Sunday School.  For the longest time he has his hands on the pew in front of us and was STARING down the teacher who was right in front of us. Then in the last picture he decided Sunday School is boring and he wants to go to nursery where they play with toys and have snacks :).

When Mimi and Papi (Grandma Melanie and Grandpa Larry) and Brooke were visiting last weekend, we went on lots of walks (as usual).  We had to act as barricades in front of Ollie so the sun wouldn't blind him.  My mom decided he needed sunglasses and we went on Amazon and found these little gems.  Here Ollie is showing off his glasses to the camera.  The top middle one is his model face.

I can't help it, every time I see him in these glasses I laugh. It is just toooo funny.  But he is a good sport.  I put them on him and he only swatted at them once and was cool with them.

In this picture he is showing how the sun can be on his face, and he doesn't even care. This boy is just too cool ;).  On our walk we often pass by a lady and daughter who are walking to the bus, and the lady just started busting up laughing when she saw Ollie and said "SOO CUTE!!!"  You just can't help it.  You just have to laugh. He wore them the whole time and didn't even cry.  Good Sport.

I can't express how much I love this little guy!  If I counted the amount of kisses I give him everyday, the number would be ridiculously high!  I just can't help it, he is my little blessing and I am so grateful I get to be his mommy.