A Long Weekend!

Usually a long weekend is accompanied by an extra day off from work for Tom but that is not the case in this long weekend.  We are experiencing our first challenge of child sickness with Titus :(  Despite the fact that mommy not only stays home with Titus and has hesitated to even put him in the nursery at church on Sunday mornings and every time we are exposed to sickness I drink that nice Emergen-C stuff as preventative for him and I he still caught daddy's nasty cold.  I think the Emergen-C has actually worked in the past for him, even once I was sick and took it so that he would get anything beneficial from it through breast milk and he didn't get sick then.  But this cold that Tom had was nasty!  So Titus' nose had been getting a little clear drainage earlier this week and then yesterday it hit him good and he didn't nap very well yesterday and I thought he wouldn't sleep very well last night but he did okay with only some coughing really now and then.  But this morning we found a very stuffy, dried crusted, sad looking baby in his crib, which was not fun for any of us to deal with getting rid of.  Our poor baby boy has been a little bit playful as the day went on but he was very sad looking with his horrible breathing sounds and very cuddly because of it.  Which makes any parent happy to have a cuddly baby.

So please pray for him, he did get some good rest today and has been sleeping now for about 2 hours.  But as a result we stayed home today to keep our germs to ourselves and to let him rest and we sure did miss seeing lots of our friends today at church.  And we did miss the fellowship that church brings into our lives and the teaching of the Word.  I am so thankful for the church body that we have and the men that serve in our church as Pastors.

P.S. We did make our big purchase this weekend but were disappointed to find out that the 20% off coupon could not be used on strollers!  We did use it on the jogging kit for it though and we did get to use our dividend on the stroller.  So we missed out on saving $124 on it but it was a great investment for our child(ren) and that just means we get more of a dividend back on it next year!

More $ Saving Sites!

I have loved Groupon and the great deals it has online for me to take advantage of, but unfortunately Groupon is not local for me in Missoula, the nearest town it is "local" is about 2 1/2 hrs in Coeur d'Alene, ID.  Groupon offers daily deals in many different areas of interest such as health & beauty, food & drink, retail & services, activities & events at 50-90% off!  If you are interested in seeing if Groupon is local for you please use my referral link provided, but remember if they are not, they have many great online deals too:
 http://www.groupon.com/r/uu17989517

Another site that my cousin introduced me to is Seize the Deal.  They are local in Missoula which is awesome and I am finding that most of the daily deals they offer DO NOT expire which is even better!  Seize the Deal offers dining deals, haircut coupons, spa deals, salon discounts and more also at 50-90% off!  If you are interested in seeing if Seize the Deal is local for you please use my referral link below:
 http://www.seizethedeal.com/users/new/dT3DhVaEn

One more site that I found but is also not local for me is called Living Social.  I do not use this site but they also offer daily deals up to 90% off!  They have deals also for restaurants, bars, spas, theaters and more.  They also offer ESCAPES deals for trips and getaways.  And they offer family friendly deals for you and the kids to enjoy.  You may want to check out that site and see if "Living Social" is local for you!
http://livingsocial.com/

When You Find a Great Thing, You Better Share It!

Hey I wanted to share something great with all of you out there that actually read this, especially any parents.  I was introduced to these awesome Cd's about 2 years ago by my wonderful aunt who has always been such a great example in my Christian walk.  They are awesome for memorizing scripture, so if your child is in AWANAS or goes to a private school where they have to memorize verses, these would be an awesome tool to use, if the verses they need are on the CD that is.  The lyrics are taken right from the NIV Bible, and  feature some great artists you may recognize such as Matthew West.  It is very enjoyable for the whole family, it won't be one of those kids Cd's that drive the parent crazy, I promise, I love them myself at this point more than Titus!  Anyway they are put out by Seeds Family Worship and you may be able to get them at your local Christian bookstore, I got them through http://www.christianbook.com/ and I paid $10.99 AND the surprise that I found when I received it was that it is packaged by Seeds with 2 Cd's so that you have one to keep and one to share!  So you only pay $5.50 per CD!  That is a great deal for a great CD!  You can also get them directly through the Seeds website http://www.seedsfamilyworship.com/  for $12.98, they have all 6 Cd's available there, so check it out and I do have one song on my play list below if you want to check out the style, the song is called "Mighty to Save" by Seeds Family Worship (#55).  Enjoy!

"And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.  And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." -Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Baby Food Cooking...

So for now anyway I make my own baby food for Titus, it is cheaper, healthier, tastes like real food of course but not necessarily easier.  Although, it is fairly easy just not as easy as picking something off the shelf at the store.  I have a book that helps me a lot with knowing what to do and what to offer him for first stage weaning and second stage weaning called The Healthy Baby Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel. 

Here I am steaming pears, as steaming is the best way to preserve the vitamins and fresh flavor.

Here is my little food processor that I picked up at a rummage sale long before I was married!  Perfect for pureeing baby food!

And here is my ice cube tray with the pears for freezing the perfect portion size for Titus!  Just put them in a Ziploc and label and date them, will be good for 8 weeks! 

And it seriously tastes good, I always try it and if Titus doesn't finish his portion then I do because it actually tastes yummy.  So far we have done apples, sweet potato, carrots, pears and parsnip.  Parsnip looks like a white carrot and tastes like a cross between carrot and sweet potato to me.

If you're a $ saver.....

....it would be worth checking out this site!

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu17989517

I am just getting signed up myself, but this is a friends testimony who loves Groupon....

"Basically, they offer one or two coupons per day for local businesses that are usually about 50% off. Occasionally, they also offer national Groupons. Redbox did a Groupon in December- as if $1 for a movie rental isn’t cheap enough- 3 movies for $1. And a few weeks after signing up they sent an email with $5 off the next Groupon purchase."- M.O.

If you want to sign up for Groupon, click the link I have provided please.