Recent Pictures

I took the kids to a safety fair. It was really great but Jayden didn't seem to enjoy himself. He was only happy about the lollipop and the balloons. He didn't seem to care about the bounce houses or the clowns.
Maya was all smiles as usual and went along for the ride. She never complains. She just goes with the flow.

Jayden on the otherhand was clearly not himself. He started to cry and I just couldn't help myself. I love his purple lips here. Evidence of the lollipop he tore up!

I got Maya a pin wheel even though she's still too young for it, but I attach it to her carseat and she's completely entertained by it. The wind was blowing and it was just twirling away. She was in a trance, just staring at it.

Here's Jayden at Mommy and Me class. This is our third week and he gets a hoot out of it.

Here's the Piano Man. This is one of those toys that isn't always accessible to Jayden. We rotate some of them so that he doesn't loose interest. This includes his TMX Elmo, leggos, musical instruments, and puzzles. He hadn't played with the piano in a while so he didn't even stop to look up for the picture.

Maya really enjoys this thing. I noticed that since she's started to use it in the last month, her legs have gotten stronger so she is putting more weight on them than before. I don't know who loves the attachments more. Jayden or Maya? Sometimes, Jayden will give her toy while she's in the excersaucer so that he can take over and play with the gadgets. He's no fool!

Maya Turns 6 Months Old

Maya is 6 months old. She’s such a special little girl. She’s content and growing. She’s got these amazing chubby cheeks, bright eyes and a beautiful smile. Her little rolls are so cute. I just want to chomp on them all day long. I believe I’m not alone on this one. I catch Jayden blowing air bubbles on her tummy all the time. She keeps us entertained making those cute little raspberry sounds. And Jayden mimics her. Now I’ve got two chatterboxes. Maya has found her toes and at any chance she gets, she’s reaching for and inserting them into her mouth. Every time Jayden catches her doing this, he yanks them out of her mouth. She also rolls both ways with ease. I spread out a blanket and put her in the middle. I place a toy at each corner and she will roll her way to each and every toy. She sure does move around for someone who is no where near crawling. Maya’s greatest accomplishment though is that she is now the proud owner of two little teeth. It was a rough time for her, but she made it like a champ. Things to look forward to next month? I’m going to start her on solids and attempt to wean her from the middle of the night feeding. I’ll keep you posted.

Couponing Depression...

I hit a couponing depression. I had a humongous wad of coupons that clearly outgrew the little holder I was using. My purse which used to be the perfect size was no longer perfect. In fact, it weighed a ton. I could never find anything in it and every time I tried, I was reminded of my coupon disorganization. I was starting to get coupons from friends and neighbors and was falling behind on my clipping because I was dreading trying to organize them and since I didn’t have the coupons ready, I was late in getting my scenarios together, late in looking at sales circulars and I even lost my desire to find deal. I hit a low.

I decided to work on a new storage system for my coupons and I can’t tell you how many hours I spent, invested, or wasted (depending on who you ask) on this project. Lots! I cut out little dividers, labeled them and then reorganized all the coupons and fit them into my metal lunch box. Then I had to go through and remove all the expired coupons since it was the end of the month (atleast a hundred). I also got completely caught up on cutting coupons from four sets of inserts, and added those into my box. Thank goodness. I had to pick up groceries and I tried out my new system. It worked great! I loved it. When I got home, I found more inserts. What’s this! The neighbor had dropped off more coupons. Ugh. I cut those out and add them into the box. Whew! I go get the mail and what’s in the mail box? Two coupon trains! These are two small groups of couponers who circulate and exchange coupons amongst each other. You get the envelope, take what you want and add more to replace the ones you’ve removed. Now, I am back at the coupons adding in the new coupons from the trains and removing those I’ll be using to fill up the envelopes. My entire weekend, which is 4 days long mind you, is completely gone and most of it to couponing! I’m so happy that it’s over and hope I don’t have to go through that again.

This month, my grocery bill only went down by 7%, but everything is overflowing and I’ve even had to move some things into the garage. The medicine cabinets, vanities, kitchen cupboards, fridge, and freezer are all stocked. I even have baby cereal, and baby food in size 1, 2 & 3 for Maya who doesn’t even eat yet. This month, I bought more diapers than usual. For one, Target was running a sale and then I found a clearance deal at Walgreens for diapers and training pants that was too good to pass up. I bought 10 packs of diapers for both Jayden and Maya for normal everyday use. Then, I bought 8 packs of training pants for Jayden and Maya (yes, Maya). I now have size 2, 2-3, 3, and 4 diapers for Maya in storage. I bought most of these at great prices and all with coupons which I’ve been trading for. Now, I won’t have to pay what the store is asking when I need them because I bought them at clearance prices before I needed them. Overall, I’m happy with this month’s deals and progress.

Jayden Gives Mommy a Big Scare!

Maya had been in her bouncer seat for a while so I spread out a blanket and lay her on it. Jayden was watching Monsters Inc. for the hundredth time and I was in the kitchen fixing dinner. I came around the corner with my plate, thinking that Jayden may want to eat from my plate since he didn’t eat very well earlier in the day. I see Jayden sitting watching TV and I realize that I don’t see Maya. I don’t see Maya because Jayden in sitting on her, as if she were a pony. I look at Maya to see if she’s moving but she’s completely still and not making any sounds. I think my eyes almost popped out of my head. I’m shouting Jayden’s name in pure awe and amazement. What was he thinking? Why are you sitting on Maya? Never, never do this again. You sit on the chair or sit on the floor. Not on Maya. Now mind you, Maya is just fine. She’s squealing and clearly enjoying her brother’s antics. (Don’t egg him on Maya!) She’s much more resilient than I think, but Jayden scared the daylights out of me. I didn’t spank him, but my eyes were like saucers and I know he must have been scared at the look on my face. When Daddy called, I told him what happened and Jayden just sat there still as could be. He would not take the phone to greet his daddy. He knew he was wrong. He said he was sorry several times and assured me he loves me. Breaks your heart, doesn’t it? I know. Me too, but he better not sit on Maya again. I mean it!

Mommy and Me Class - Week Three

Today, we had our third class. Jayden went in with the usual serious look on his face, but he warmed up very quickly. Our story today was the Three Little Pigs. After the story, the instructor had straw, wood (Popsicle sticks) and bricks for the kids to feel and explore. The kids loved the straw. It has a very different texture and a distinct smell. It was everywhere. The kids really liked the popsicle sticks too. Then it was craft time. They glued together a piggy’s face together and then colored it. It was very cute. It’s always hard to tear Jayden away from the craft table, but when the parachute came out he came running. We played with that for a while and then we built houses with blocks and practiced blowing them down. Of course, they really enjoyed knocking the blocks over. At the end of the activity, the kids helped with clean up. I’m still pleasantly surprised at how much they want to help at this age. We closed with a song and made it out just in time. A rain storm had just ended. I am really enjoying sharing this time with Jayden and I’m hoping that there’s another class we can do together after this one is over. I’m learning just as much as he is. Lots of times, I refrain from certain activities because I think to myself, he’s too little or he doesn’t get it, or it’ll just make a mess. I’m so wrong. I need to do more. He’s this little only once.

A Compilation of Funny Jayden Moments

One day, we were in the car running errands and afterwards we were deciding on what to do for lunch when Jayden announces “want more”. I knew he was hungry and reassured him that we were going home and we would have lunch there. Obviously he wasn’t comforted because he said again “Mommy, want more.” I again reassure him that we’ll eat soon. He responds with, “There it is!” There what is? What is he talking about? I look over and he’s pointing to the Golden Arches! You’ve got to be kidding me. He’s two and he already knows McDonald’s? We barely ever go there.

Jayden competes for attention with Maya in the subtlest of ways. He’s never downright mean, but always makes his point. Maya typically spits up when she’s burped. So, I get her burp cloth and wipe her with it. So Jayden has started to spit so that the drool is hanging off of the side of his lip and then he shows me his pucker very carefully so that the drool doesn’t drip so that I can wipe his face off too. What a guy.

This week, we’ve been watching the computer animated movie, Monsters Inc. Jayden will bring me the remote control for the DVD player whenever he wants to see it. There’s a scene in the movie, where the monsters are coming onto the floor reporting for duty and they kinda show them in slow motion. The other monsters (the assistants) are watching in awe and one of them says in a really goofy voice “They’re awesome!” So Jayden repeats, “Awesome”. It took me by surprise the first time and I couldn’t figure out what he was saying. Was that awesome? No, can’t be. We never say that. But I started to notice him saying it every time that scene plays (and that’s a lot), he says it. Makes me smile every time!

Mommy and Me Class, Week Two

Jayden and I had our second Mommy and Me class. Jayden seemed happy to go, but once he got there, he became very clingy and super serious. He was not smiling at anyone or anything. This week, the story was Jack and the Beanstalk. So we had story time and then we passed around containers full of beans with little treasures hidden inside. Who would have thought the kids would enjoy this so much. They were thrilled and played with the beans and looked for the toys hidden inside. It was so simple and so great. Next we had a craft. The kids painted a picture of Jack climbing the beanstalk and had the chance to glue beans onto their coloring sheets. I remembered what happened last week with the glue stick so I scrapped that idea. Jayden refused to wear the cover I brought along to protect his clothes so we proceeded with caution. It wasn’t bad at all. It was great and he got a kick out of putting his brush in and out of the colors and cleaning the brush in cups of water.

Afterwards, we played “Duck, Duck, Goose”, but the kids were all two years old and they didn’t get the concept so this didn’t work. So we moved on. We practiced up and down since Jack climbed up and down the beanstalk. We each grabbed a hold of a parachute and brought it up and down. The kids got such a kick out of this. Most ran under the parachute, but Jayden was perfectly happy helping raise and lower the parachute. Finally, he was starting to warm up to the other kids and moms. At the end, we had song and dance time and then class was over. This week was a little disorganized since there was only one instructor and she’s in training. Plus, there were some new faces since last week, but everything worked out well.

I love these classes. It’s the only place where it doesn’t matter what Jayden does. He’s never in trouble and never getting reprimanded. He can run and play and doesn’t have to hear me saying don’t do this or don’t touch that. It’s very relaxing when you just let the kids do whatever they want. I run a pretty tight ship at home so it’s great to take him to places where it’s all fair game.

This picture was taken the first week. He loves those foam building blocks. He stacked those up all by himself.

He's such a goofy boy.

Here's week two. This was after the parachute activity. He was happy from then on out.
Here he is working with his little friend, named Maya, just like his sister. They were working together to build the tower and then knock it over. Hmmm. Maya attends Mommy and Me class with her nanny. I thought this was odd, but didn't give it a second thought. Then at today's class, Maya's mommy came for a "visit". She stayed for about 10 minutes and left. Hmmm.