My Little OU Fan

Saying Goodbye to the Gummy Smile

Last night Landon was up several times in the night. He was just kind of being a fussy boy. This morning I felt a tooth on the bottom that must have popped through during the night! It will be sad to say goodbye to that cute gummy smile that I love so much, but at the same time all the changes are fun so much fun.

What have some of you done to help your babies through the teething phase?

Walgreen's 10/24 & 10/25

Walgreen's has some more great deals this weekend. They have released another $5/20 coupon for Friday and Saturday only (Oct. 24,25)

St Ives Elements Face Wash $4.99 use this $2.00 coupon - Get $5.00 RR ~ $2.00 Money Maker!

Benefiber Strawberry Stick packs - Buy 3 at $7.99 each, use Easysaver coupon to take $5.00 off each, and there are lots of $2.00 Manufacturer's coupons out there. So, pay $2.98, get $8.00 in RR! ~ $5.00 Money Maker!!!

Oral B Cross Action Toothbrush - $4.49 - Get $4.50 RR ~ FREE (or money maker if you have a coupon!)

Alka Seltzer Plus Cold (Regular Flavor) - $4.99 - Get $5.00 RR ~ FREE (or money maker if you have a coupon)

Gillette Fusion Power Razor - $8.99 Use $4.00 coupon (from P&G coupon insert from beginning of this month) = $4.99 - get $4.00RR ~ $.99

There are also the Free after rebate items that you could purchase with the $5/20 coupon. There are a lot of options for you to really make out good at Walgreen's this week! If you are confused by this post, refer to my previous Walgreen's post. If you are still confused, ask questions so you can start saving some money!

Ready for bed

I thought this was a sweet picture. He loves his little bear.

Pineapple Smoothie

Since pineapple was on sale at Aldi this week for $1.99 (I actually took the ad to Wal-Mart and they comped it), I decided to try a pineapple smoothie today.

1 orange (or 1 cup orage juice)
1 cup pinapple
1-2 bananas
2 big handfuls spinach
a little water

The more banana you add, the creamier it will be. The original recipe calls for a cup of yogurt and does not have the spinach (but you seriously cannot taste it so don't be afraid!).

This is a really yummy combination! Give it a try, your body will thank you :)

Ever Changing

Just wanted to do a little update of our little guy and how he's growing and changing.

He just started taking a pacifier! I had kind of given up after almost five months of rejecting it, but Brooke and I were at the mall and I decided to give it a try and to my surprise he took it and kept it in for most of the time we were there! Ever since, he's taken it just fine and it has really been a lifesaver at church and for naps and bedtime.

He is getting better at getting around. He's not quite on all fours, but he's got the scoot down. I probably need to work on baby proofing our house very soon!

He is working on teeth. I see a little white dot on the bottom side, so I don't think they are too far off. I'm going to miss that gummy smile when they do come in.

Today, Landon was having fun copying daddy by sticking out his tongue. It seems like he does something new every day. It's so much fun watching him grow and change. I am so thankful for our little boy.

Walgreens 10/17 & 10/18

If you haven't started deal shopping at Walgreens, today is a great day to jump in. There is a $5/25 coupon good for today and tomorrow, plus other great deals.

Here is one scenario that will get you a lot of bang for your buck:

3 Dimeatapp Products = $10 use 3 $2/1 Printable coupons = $6.00
3 Skippy Peanut Butters & 6 Ragu spaghetti sauces (or any combination of $15 worth of these products) = $15.00
1 Oral B Crossaction Toothbrush - $4.49

Total: $26.49
Use $5.00/25.00

New Total: $21.49

Get back: $10 Register Reward (RR) from Dimeatapp, $5 RR from Ragu/Skippy, and $4.49 RR from toothbrush
Total of: $19.49 in RR good on your next purchase

THEN:

Use all your register rewards to buy free after rebate items. You can submit your rebates online and if you choose to put them on your giftcard you will get a 10% bonus!

Items free after rebate this month:

Extreme Energy 6 Hour Shot 2 pack, 2oz - $3.99 then $3.99 rebate = FREE

L'Oreal Cleansers: Age perfect or Revitalift Cream 5 oz (or a few others listed) - $7.99 (there are coupons out there for this), then $7.99 Rebate = FREE or Overage if you have coupons

Rimmel Lasting Finish Mineral Enriched Foundation, 1 oz - $7.49 then $7.49 rebate = FREE

Other rebates from last month that are reissued for this month (not listed in catalog):

Nivia for Men Body Wash - $4.99, then $4.99 rebate = FREE

L'Oreal Revitalist anti-wrinkle concentrate, 1oz - $16.49, then $16.49 Rebate = FREE

Chemistry Hair Care 1.35oz to 12oz - $7.99, then $7.99 rebate = FREE

LypSyl LypMoisturizer, 1oz stick - $1.99, then $1.99 rebate = FREE


DEFINITIONS:

Register Rewards - This is a coupon that prints out that is good on your next purchase at Walgreens. They have expiration dates, so be sure to use them in the allotted time frame. These are considered manufacturer's coupons. So, if you are using manufacturer's coupons for other things you are buying be sure you have one coupon per item.
Example: Let's say I'm buying a package of Pampers that cost $9.99 and I have a coupon for $1.50 off and I also have a Register Reward worth $5.00. I have to buy another item to use my register reward. I usually get a pencil or something little.

Rebates - Walgreens has a catalog that they put out every month called the "Easy Saver Catalog" In it are coupons and eligible rebates for the month. You can submit your rebates at Walgreens.com and they will send you a check or a giftcard to use. If you choose the giftcard option you will get an additional 10% of whatever you are getting back in rebates that month. Once you receive your giftcard, the next month is a lot easier because you just enter your giftcard number and they will reload your funds onto that card, no more waiting for the mail to come!

Candle Lighting Ceremony

I went to a candle lighting ceremony last night. The ceremony, which took place nationwide in all time-zones at 7:00pm, was in remembrance of the precious babies each had lost. I had never been to anything like that before, but it was encouraging to talk to others who have gone through the loss of a child. There was a news team there and Landon and I made the 10:00 news! Each person would go up, light their candle, and speak the name of the baby/babies that they had lost. It was neat to hear Samuel's name broadcasted (this portion made the newscast!). If you are interested here is the link to the news story:
Video:
Grieving families gather to remember the children they lost

National Day of Remembrance of Pregnancy & Infant Loss

I read over on Bring the Rain that today (10/15/08) is the National Day of Remembrance of pregnancy and infant loss. She is going to pray for anyone that has had a loss and I thought I could do the same over here since our blogs reach different scopes of people. This is any baby that has died whether it was to miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDs, or any other type of infant death. It's strange how closely this falls to Samuel's birthday...

I wanted to recognize some of the babies I know that have gone to be with the Lord and thought that if you could pray for their parents today I know that would mean a lot to them. I know there are so many more. If you or someone you know has lost a baby at any stage of pregnancy or infant loss add their names and how they lost their baby so we can be praying for them today.

Samuel - Me & Seth
Beverly & 2 m/c - Dave and Phyllis
Esther - Jeff and Mary
Taylor & m/c - Joanne and Jeremy
Elliot - Angie and Josh
Seth - Karen and Jim
Rachel - Tina and Robert
Abel - Kimberly & Dan
Aaron - Polly and Greg
miscarriage - Jenica and Andy
May Rose - Nikki
Sam - Ingrid
Owen - Jennifer
Audrey - Angie
Sawyer - Heather
m/c - Lois and Andy
3 m/c - Danny & Kris
Isaac, Gabrielle, Stacey - Ron & Cindy
m/c - Mark & Cindy

Happy Birthday Samuel!

I can't believe it's been two years since we said goodbye to our little Samuel. It's crazy to think about how different our lives would be if he were here... We sure do miss him, but we know that he is with the Lord and we cannot wait to be joined together again.

Last night I put together a little movie of the memories we have of Samuel. It was difficult to do, but very therapeutic at the same time.

There is this neat organization called MEND (mommies enduring neonatal death) that has support groups nationwide. They also put out a newsletter bimonthly. In this newsletter there is a section where you can recognize the baby you lost by writing them a happy birthday letter. I was so encouraged when I saw that our little happy birthday message made it this month.



Also, my sweet friend, Brooke, and her mom gave me such a thoughtful gift. It was a gift card to build-a-bear. We all went as a family on Sunday and picked out a bear that reminded us of Samuel. There's something about having something tangible to squeeze... Here is what we found:

Cozy Soup

This beautiful fall weather drove me to try this new soup. I love the fall and all the yummy smells and tastes that come with it! I found this recipe for Butternut squash soup over at "A Year of Crockpotting." This lady has committed to cook out of her crockpot every day for this entire year! So far she's done it. Anyway, I liked this soup especially with a yummy whole wheat roll (Shawna's recipe). Seth thought it was ok, but he doesn't like squash (I love it). 

Anyway, just thought the colors looked pretty :)

First Attempts

Landon has been trying so hard to get around. He gets frustrated when he can't quite get to what he wants. Here is a little movie of him making his first attempts at crawling. 

My camera only has so much time to record so I couldn't record until he got to the toy, but he did get there!

"I Love Me Some Me"

You know how when you look through a stack of pictures you always look for yourself? Well, apparently this vanity is evident at a very young age. 

One of Landon's favorite things to do is to watch movies of himself as seen below...

By the way, the title of the post is a quote from a very egotistical professional football player, Terrell Owens.

New Blogger

My sister-in-law, Mandy, has started a blog! You can see pictures of little Aydan there. Go check it out and welcome her.