A Week of Firsts

I tell ya, having an infant in the house means being prepared for lots of changes in a short period of time. This week was no exception! Emmy is trying very hard to get her first tooth, yesterday she did her first straight-arm push-up (I was so proud!), we may take her swimming for the first time this weekend, and next week she starts daycare...whew! Oh!!! One more...I gave Em her first haircut today! She needed a trim badly, so I snipped some strands while she did tummy time this afternoon. (got some pics, will upload later) Needless to say, I am terribly behind in scrapbooking her milestones...they just keep adding up! She is quickly approaching the 6 month mark, and we simply can't believe it. She is growing so fast, it almost seems I am putting away clothes on a weekly basis that she has outgrown. Oh my, as my mom would say, she'll be walking, talking and painting her toenails before we know it!

She's Got Skillz

Well, Em's got a new set of skills...she can contort herself into a human pretzel in order to suck on her toes. It's like looking at a circus freak, you simply can't look away. I shot a video of this trick, and uploaded it to Photobucket if you are interested in viewing. Also a cute video of her chasing Amos' tail. She's really fascinated by the cats, and Amos is very tolerant of her pats and squeals of delight. Riley tends to watch from a safe distance...smart kitty.

Em & I are flying into Columbus, Ohio to visit my mom & grandmom in August. Gram is 90, and really wants to hold Emmy again (she met her for the first time in early May). That's an easy way to make a great-Grammy happy, so I will brave a solo flight with Em to do it. It's nonstop, and I'm hoping I can give her a bottle on the ascent to help with her ears. Not sure how I will entertain her for an hour and a half, and I'm seriously thinking a big dose of pre-flight Benadryl might be in order. (just kidding! no, really, I am!)

Potter Mania!

Keith is just about beside himself with glee...he gets to pick up his copy of the 7th installment of the Harry Potter series tomorrow morning. He volunteered to take my car in for an oil change, and I suspect that's so he has an undisturbed hour to read his book at the car place. We've gone to see the 5th movie...dark, very dark. It was pretty good though. I haven't read any of the books, but I think I might start them sometime this summer. I've made Keith keep any big surprises he reads in the books to himself, so I can find out for myself when we see the movies. It's starting to get pretty interesting though, so I'll probably just read the books and find out what the heck happens, rather than waiting 2 years for the 7th movie to come out. Potter mania is about to hit the Stouder house. Oh! And we read recently that there's going to be a Harry Potter theme park somewhere in Orlando (within one of the Disney parks, just can't remember which one). I think it is supposed to open in 2008 or 09, but Keith has already said we will be taking Emmy there someday. I'm sure we will both "suffer through it", for Emmy's sake. We wouldn't want to deprive her of that experience. ;)

Happy Birthday, Chadman!

Hope you had a fantastic day, filled with all things that make Chad happy!!!

Bargain Shopper's Dream

Anyone who knows me well knows I am a true bargain shopper. Clearance rack? Bee line. End of season sale? Outta my way. Double coupons? Cha-ching! Imagine my delight when I heard of a website called The Grocery Game, which promised to save me tons-o-cash with each shopping trip. And, bonus!, you got to try it for the first month for a buck.

Here's the premise...you clip your coupons from the Sunday paper, sort, file in whatever sort of organizer works for you. Enter your zipcode and it brings up the main local grocery stores & pharmacies in your area (ie, CVS, Kroger, Walgreens, Food Lion). Each week, these stores put out sale circulars on a designated day. The GG site has a HUGE database of info on when certain items go on sale, and whether it's at its rockbottom price. (You see, stores do things in cycles that are very predictable...news to me.) The GG site also keeps track of what coupons come out over the weeks, and it matches rock-bottom sale prices with recently released coupons....and what results?! A heck of a deal!

The whole idea is to buy things you would normally use while on mega-sale, and then stockpile for future use. This way, when you run out of an item, you "go shopping" in your pantry, instead of having to run out and buy it at full price. Makes total sense to me (I'm still trying to explain to Keith why we now have 5 tubes of toothpaste in the closet). The best I've done so far is saving 71% off my total purchase at CVS. Yep! Got $62 worth of stuff for $18...plus earned $6 to spend on my next shopping trip. Seriously people...if you haven't signed up for the CVS Rewards card, you are missing out!

I highly recommend checking out The Grocery Game website to learn more about what's involved (and if you decide to sign up, make sure you let them know I sent ya!). I thought I was a pretty savvy shopper before, but it's totally changed the way I think about my purchases, and what I'm willing to pay for stuff. I'll never pay full price for toothpaste again!

Phases

Well, we're going through a phase here in the Stouder household. Emmy, who used to suck down a bottle in 5 minutes flat, no longer wants to eat. She's not running a temp, not pulling her ears, not unusually fussy, still sleeping great...just not that interested in her bottles anymore. She is so easily distracted now, everything is MUCH more interesting than the baba. I've checked her gums repeatedly to see if they were red or swollen...nope. She still chews on her hands and drools, but this has been going on for a good month. We started introducing cereal about 3 weeks ago, and she's finally getting the hang of this "swallowing solid food" thing. I even gave her some prunes yesterday (please see uploaded video on Photobucket site) in an effort to help her move things along. She is struggling a bit in that department since she finished the last of the frozen breastmilk 2 weeks ago. We had been gradually introducing formula to her, but now that she's on 100% formula, the iron must be clogging her up. Alas, I keep telling myself she'll eat when she's good & hungry (and she does drink her 9pm bottle down very well, but she's half asleep at the time!). I wish someone could invent little mini-blinders, like what they put on horses. Then, 90% of the distractions would be gone, and she might eat...unless the cat walks into the room and meows.

Happy 4th!

We hope everyone has a safe & happy July 4th! We've been invited to a cookout at our friends' house, and look forward to visiting with them. I predict a quiet evening at home, as Em's bedtime is around 7pm.

On a sad note, I got news today that my Great Uncle Rich passed away yesterday. He was my Grandpa Teyner's brother, and lived in Bay City, Michigan. He was famous for hosting "big feeds", and loved to take us to the Polish restaurant in town when we visited. He had a large personality, and a big heart. He loved to go to the Upper Peninsula and hunt, and always reported his successes (along with the snowfall measurement) in his Christmas card. I'll miss reading about that this year. Our thoughts are with our Michigan family this week.