A Year Ago

I'm on a picture organization mission. My pic files have never been so organized! Hurrah! You are the lucky benefactors of my mission. This is from April, a year ago.

I'd like to point out 2 things in this picture.

1. Thumb sucking. Still happening a year later.
2. Dad pants. I am in love with these fleece plaid babies. Did I mention they have elastic ankles?
   

Look at baby doll's angelic little smile. She's still got it. I'm shocked by the LACK of hair. Seriously. There is an infinitely larger amount of hair a year later. Hard to believe this was pre-surgery, not that you can really tell in this picture...

Lunch Lessons

Perhaps it's because I'm feeling frugal with the threat of a husband losing his job, thank-you-very-much-layoffs, but I LOVE money-saving tips. Whether or not I use them, I still love finding more tips and ways to save. I have become some strange sort of coupon fiend. Not to say that I'm always good at being disciplined....

Like movies? Check out Redbox rental. They have machines in McDonald's, and some grocery stores, and they've started popping up at Walgreens too. I LOVE REDBOX! And I just discovered you can reserve your movies online and not be missing the title you're after when you get to the machine. It's a dollar a day! Never again should anyone rent a $5 movie at blockbuster or on cable!

The Entertainment Book. I knew I needed glasses this year, and low-and-behold, the entertainment book had a coupon for $125 off a complete pair. For a $20 book, it paid itself off times 6 in one purchase. But they have everyday 2-for-1 deals too, for restaurants and attractions, discount movie tickets, car washes, and online purchases. It is way worth it. You just have to be careful not to go places or buy things just because you have a coupon.

Target coupons. You can probably get them online too, but Target mailers have tons of coupons. I rejoice whenever it arrives, because there are always coupons for diapers and wipes and such (my biggest expenditure) and you can double up target coupons and manufacturer coupons.

Christmas decorations, or anything seasonal. Watch Target after Christmas for amazing clearances. This year I happened to be in the store when Christmas clearance was at 50% off. I didn't buy anything. The next day I went back and it had just been changed to 75% off, and I stocked up like crazy! (along with everyone else in the tri-state area, it seemed)

Mid-winter or mid-week getaways. I discovered a resort we love in our frigid state was offering amazing deals for winter getaways - when no one really wants to leave the comforts of their toasty warm houses. A room that is normally $199, in the mid-week and in winter, was $99. (we're going on this getaway in a couple weeks, in fact). But what? It's April you say? Doesn't matter - may as well still call it winter...

Sign up. If there are certain brands you ALWAYS use for certain things, sign up for online accounts. I'm very choosy about this, so I don't end up on millions of mailing lists, but signing up for Pampers, Huggies, Luvs, etc is excellent. Lots of coupons come your way. Definitely sign up for whatever brand baby formula you use. Nestle Good Start offers $11 rebate checks when your baby is a newborn. Very depressing, however, when $11 rebates decrease to $3 and $1! But use them while you can.

And so my lunch break has come to an end. And so my pearls of wisdom must too. Maybe I'll motivate myself to have more Lunch Lessons. I love giving advice, but only when warranted. If I do it here, people can ignore it if they detest advice. So ha!

What's the deal with Arby's?

Is every Arby's out there the oldest Arby's you've ever seen? It ocurred to me while waiting in the adjacent Taco Bell drive through (Taco Bell is one of my vices - shut up, you know you like it too), that I was looking at an Arby's that probably hasn't ever been updated beyond some fresh paint. Then I started realizing EVERY Arby's looks like something straight out of the 70s. How do they do it? Every chain around reinvents itself every so often, but not Arby's. I guess all it takes is thinly shaved something resembling roast beef. But I sure do love it! Shout out to my oldest bro, who loves Arby's dearly!

A hand report

Ellie's hand is really coming along nicely. I haven't posted an update in quite some time, but that is because her hand has quickly become so close to a normal hand, that I tend to forget anything was ever wrong. Until tonight, but I'll come back to that. For now,

This shows how great of a separation there is between the thumb and index finger. Truly amazing that they were connected by bone 8 months ago!

Here Ellie is using her hands to flip pages in a book.

This one shows how nicely the skin grafts are healing.

People often ask if there will be surgery down the road. She has 2 main issues - the index finger has oddly shaped bones and she still isn't using it. I think the shape of the bones prevents her from wanting to bend it. It does bend, but it must not be very comfortable, and she doesn't try it since she never could move it before surgery. The other issue is her crooked middle finger, which I'm guessing will require straightening some day. For now, they don't do anything other than watch it and let it grow until she is at least 5 years old. A lot of times, things improve as the fingers grow. It really is very crooked, though, but it looks so much better than even a month ago! It has grown a lot in that time.

Now, going back to what I alluded to, most of the time, I have handled this process with ease and a real sense of calmness (maybe not so a YEAR AGO, at this time, mind you...) Tonight we had a surprising reminder of how fragile this little beautiful hand is. PREGO ALERT: My pregnant readers, avoid this story if you're queasy! Ellie was eating pasta pick-ups out of the container tonight. She was truly chowing down, and we didn't think much of it. We sat down for dinner, and everything was going fine until she caught glimpse of mashed potatoes. She developed a desparate need to have mashed potatoes the instant she saw them. I said "no, you can have some when you finish this," while pointing to her bowl of veggies. The horrific face before the cry developed, and sobbing ensued.

All of a sudden I look over and her hand is bleeding. I exclaim, and Sean says "no, that's from the pasta." It really does look like pasta sauce, and she calms down, I give her the beloved mashed potatoes, and dinner resumes, but I look again and think it really is blood on her hand. I say, "Sean, what kind of pick-ups were those?" I head over to look at the empty container and it says chicken and cheese. It dawns on us, that there WAS no sauce. The poor dear cut her hand on the metal rim - did you know those rims can catch on skin? Oh, I'm horrified even thinking of it.

It wasn't bleeding anymore by this time. What seemed like a good idea, putting the whole container in front of her, ended up cutting her. What is surprising is that she didn't even ever seem bothered by her HAND, only the mashed potatoes. Since it wasn't bleeding anymore and the kids looked worried by our demeanor, we finished dinner before cleaning her hand up really well, and de-potatoing it. Then I soaked it in a peroxide/water mix, put aquaphor on it, and put her hand in a sock to keep her from sucking on it. (which she has done incessantly since she was in the womb!) It looked almost completely back to normal by this time, and it wasn't bothering her at all. She got about 4 little cuts from that stupid container! I bet there's a warning on it somewhere, I should check.

Anyways, the thinking is that we'll call her hand doctor tomorrow if it doesn't look right. I anticipate it will be almost entirely healed by morning, as children have an amazing ability to heal. Being this is the first time she's really hurt her hand, it threw me into a reality check. We're going to have to worry about her fragile hand a lot as she grows up. The skin seems so delicate. This mom can't seem to shake the image from her mind!! Even though everything is fine. Better sneak in and peek at her before I go to sleep, or there will be no sleep. Not to worry, grandparental types, Ellie is fine. Everyone is fine except me. Me? I have a knot in my stomach. This is one of those let go and let God moments, I think. Say a little prayer for her hand if you think of it. It's fine, but prayer can't hurt.

Product

I find it terribly amusing that the hubs is the one who sparked this. One day we were talking about E's hair, and he said, we really need to get that girl some...... wait for it...... "product." A word I never imagined would come out of the mouth of my hubs. What a man!

Do you think we need "product" for some reason?

We now are the proud owners of Graham Webb curl defining shampoo and conditioner. You know the kind, the horribly expensive, found in salons shampoo and conditioner. I have a feeling it's going to be an expensive life with E and her hair. But who can resist those curls? So far so good with the product, by the way. You can glide a brush through like butter, and it makes her hair much softer. Oh my. I can't believe what I'm in for.

Why? Because I said so.

Where do I find myself these days? In the land of why. If there is a statement, it WILL be followed by "Why?" Parents everywhere have suffered through this phase long since the beginning of time. Yet somehow I find myself surprised by this. Why? (ironic) Because it follows EVERY THING I SAY. It's not just when I say no to something, it's after everything. I have become that dreaded person that when confronted with why for the 100th time, says "Because I said so." I really AM that person. Ahhhhhh. Let me now embrace it. :)



Why did you just say embrace?

Why does this surprise me?

Church Nursery Duty = A cold developing by Wednesday

Guess what I did Sunday, and guess what I now have? A cold. Coughing, snotty noses, and communal toys with a perfect put-toys-in-mouths set of ages. What else would a person expect from such a petri dish?

On a healthier note, see Exhibit M and Exhibit E