Wordless Wednesday: A sick boy and his dog

Some Heart-Melting Moments

Robby has done some pretty precious things lately and I don't want to forget them, so here are few:

-I've been working with him FOREVER to say "I love you".  He says it if I break it down word by word, but he can't/won't say it all together.  So today I told him "love you" and he said back "loe lu".  I got so giddy that he actually was saying it (well, his version of it) back to me!

-Whenever I pick him up from MDO or from Nursery, the first thing he wants after hugging me is Charlie.  He looks around for him and calls out "Charlie, Charlie!"  I love how much he loves his little brother.

-He loves helping me do things.  The latest "chore" I've let him help me with is throwing away the diapers after I change him.  We keep a trash can in the garage just for the diapers, so he will walk to the door with the diaper, wait for me to open it, throw it carefully in the trash can, then walk inside and shut the door.  After he's done he usually says "Yay!!"

-My mom sent me some of my old play food and dishes for Robby to have.  We got them in the mail earlier this week and he played with them nonstop.  As soon as he woke up the next morning, he was wanting to play with it again.  I love how he looked into the container and was carefully picking which toy to play with first!

-Yesterday afternoon, Robby was playing with the play spoons.  I looked over from the kitchen and saw him pretending to feed Charlie.  Charlie was opening his mouth like a little bird waiting for whatever Robby was going to feed him!  I had to stop him a few times because he was kind of jamming it doing Charlie's throat, but it was cute nonetheless!

-Along with that, he has really been pretending more and he loves it when I pretend with him.  He giggles and skips around when I play along with him.  It cracks me up!

-Today when picked up Robby from MDO, his teacher has written on his sheet that he was very chatty and talked about his shoes!  He is obsessed with shoes and feet.  I have to keep my shoes on all the time in the house or else he will constantly be trying to put various shoes on my feet!

 I'm so thankful that I get to stay home with both of my boys so I get to see them change and grow.  I love that I don't have to miss a single sweet moment!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: My big helper

I heard the silverware drawer slam shut this morning while I was in the living room.  I went into the kitchen to see what was happening.  Robby put all of his play silverware into the silverware drawer.  I think he thought he was helping by putting it away!  On a side note, these are the same play silverware that I played with 25 years ago.  It's fun to get to play with them again!  :-)

A fun friend meetup!

On Sunday, we drove a couple of hours to meet up with our friends Josh and Catie and their son Gus.  We met up in an adorable little town, Belton.  We went to a cute restaurant and right outside of it was a stream/pond area where there were ducks, so that entertained the boys while we got to visit.  Thankfully, Catie and I text literally every day (I think there has maybe been one day since we moved that I haven't texted or talked to her) so there wasn't much "catching up" to do, but it was fun to actually see each other and talk in person!  They are in Dallas to visit her family, so it was only about a 2 hour drive for them, as well.  We had a blast and the boys enjoyed throwing rocks in the creek!

How I saved money this week: Volume 1

Just an update, meal planning has gone really well.  While we haven't stuck with the specific meal for the specific day perfectly, we have had the meals I had planned within the week.  On Monday, we had pizza for lunch instead of dinner and on Tuesday I realized that I still hadn't gotten ricotta cheese (for some reason I couldn't find it at the grocery store when I went last week, so I was planning on just getting a big container at Costco but totally forgot!).  So we still had some ham and we had that on Tuesday night and moved the lasagna to Thursday night.  Anyway, other than the ricotta cheese and having to get more milk, we stuck with our meals and didn't go to the grocery store!  That was a big goal of mine!

Now, for ways I actively saved money:

First, this is actually something that Tim did for us, but we cleaned out our storage unit.  Right now, everything is spread out in our garage while we go through everything and decide what is keep, give, and trash.  Technically we aren't able to really save this money because it is the exact amount of Robby's tuition for Mother's Day Out.  But thankfully, that means it cancels out that expense, which makes me feel a little less guilty for him going.

Second, I made our own crackers.  Technically, they were supposed to be goldfish crackers but I didn't make the little cutter to make the fish, so I just cut them in squares.  I used this recipe and they are SO good!  I need to make them a little thinner so they are more crispy and less chewy.  But the flavor is wonderful.  Tim said he likes them better than goldfish.  Robby liked them, too, and actually ate fewer of them at snack time because they were more filling.  They were extremely easy.  Way easier than I ever imagined.  If you have a food processor, you're set!
I gathered all my ingredients: 8 oz of freshly shredded cheddar cheese, 1 Cup of flour, 3/4 teaspoons of salt, 2 Tablespoons of cold water

 I put everything in the food processor and pulsed it until it was mixed and looked kind of gritty.

I added the water slowly until a loose dough formed.  I molded it into a flattened ball and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours.  The recipe calls for just 20 minutes, but I somehow got distracted by a kid or two and that turned into a couple of hours!

 I rolled out the cheese dough and instead of using a cutter, I just cut strips and made square(ish) shapes.

 Lined them on parchment paper.

And baked at 350 for 15 minutes.  They aren't pretty.  If I were making these to give to someone or take somewhere, I would have made them much better.  I think I have heartedly expected them not to turn out very well so I didn't worry too much about how they looked.

This recipe made enough to fill a quart size ziptop bag.  Since I always have these ingredients on hand, they don't cost me anything.  The only thing I'm at risk of running out of would be the cheese and this recipe calls for about $1 worth of cheese when I shred it myself.  I would imagine I'm saving about $2 for every batch of these I make since we aren't buying them.  Plus, they taste better!  I'm considering using whole wheat flour one time and seeing how those turn out.  I'll let you know!

Third, I couponed.  I've done a couple of coupon clipping trip, mainly to CVS or Walgreens when they were having specials on health and beauty products and I had coupons.  Usually those trips ended with me saving a little but mainly I would get the rewards cash or coupons back, which I guess is still saving money, it just wasn't saving a ton of money on that specific trip.  This time, I spent two days worth of nap times finding baby food coupons.  Target is having their big baby sale through the 8th and I knew I wanted to take advantage of all the baby food they had discounted.  Thankfully, at Target you can use Target coupons, combined with their sale prices, combined with manufacturer coupons.  Before I went, I organized all my coupons by brand, made sure Tim was taking care of the boys (there was no way I could have focused on this if I was also having to keep up with them), and promised myself not to purchase anything that wasn't on sale AND that I didn't have a coupon.  My budget to spend was $100 and I had to stick to that.  I happened to go to the baby section through another section instead of down the main aisle, the way I usually do.  Since I went that way, I was able to see quite a bit of baby food that was clearanced on an endcap. I first checked the expiration date because I have found clearanced food items before that were a month or so away from their expiration and that doesn't save any money if I have to throw it out before we use it!  All was good, and I started going through my coupons and finding the matching foods.  Then I headed to the main baby food aisle.  I mainly had coupons for Gerber, but it was all on sale and I had two coupons for each baby food item I purchased, so I got most Gerber items for around $.10-$.15 each.  Other coupons I had were for the baby food pouches.  While these are more expensive, even with the coupons, we have found that these work very well for us.  They are super easy to feed from when we use the little attachable spoons and once Charlie is able to suck from the pouch himself, I can just hand them to him when we are in the car and he can feed himself.  We used these all the time when Robby was little.  I would stock up on them when they were on sale at Babies R Us or Target, but never had coupons also.  All of those I got for under $1.  Now, I know the way to REALLY save money on baby food is to make my own.  I do make some items, mainly the items that all I have to do is mash them with a fork, but I can't seem to get my act together to make all the food and freeze it.  But I have a few ways of saving when it comes to baby food that don't include making it from scratch.  We buy applesauce in bulk from Costco.  As long as it is only apples and no sugar is added, it's the same as baby food apples.  We get three HUGE containers of applesauce for around $4.  One of those packages lasted us through Robby's entire time of eating baby food.  We add it to baby cereal, feed it alone, and add it to other baby food to add another flavor/component to the food.  Doing that also stretches the baby food to last longer.  And since baby food isn't a replacement for bottles yet, we only feed an actual baby food one time a day, the other times is oatmeal or rice cereal.  Anyway, I was heading to the checkout after filling my cart full of baby food and a few other items and I just knew I wasn't going to be able to stick to my $100 budget.  I said a quick, silent prayer that God would bless my basket and bless my wallet and keep it within what we can afford.  I know that sounds silly, but I had to do that at the grocery store the week before, too, because we had such a strict grocery budget that I had to keep to.  Well, y'all, God answered my prayer because when I checked out I was shocked.  I quickly passed the $100 mark and got up to $158.  I wish I could have a total of how much it all would have been not counting the sale prices.  If my calculations on everything is right, it was around $210.  I handed her my stack of coupons, totally expecting the camera crew from TLC to show up.  The cashier started scanning them and I just watched as the total dropped and dropped.  My grand total for the baby food was $98.54!  I had to get some aftershave for Tim, so that brought my entire total a tad over $100 (but I had a coupon for that, too!).  I was so excited, that I called Tim right away!  I kind of understand those crazy couponers now.  I texted my friend Catie and she totally nailed my feelings when she said it gives us a high when we save a good amount of money.  That's very true!  Here is everything I purchased:

It is enough food to get Charlie through his baby food phase!  I could not believe that I got so much (a few items are missing because Robby could reach up on the table and get some so he was carrying them around while I was trying to take a picture.)  I don't think I'll become a crazy coupon person, but I do think I will pay closer attention to what coupons are out for items I already purchase.  It didn't take all that long for me to find coupons online to print, but it did take quite a bit of time to match them with my list.  I definitely don't want to buy things just because I have a coupon for them and I want to be sure that I wouldn't get a better deal simply by purchasing the store brand.  I think I will need to start shopping by myself though because it definitely takes a lot of focus to keep everything straight!

How did you save money this week?  I'd love to hear about it!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Ladies Bible Study

I am starting my very first ladies Bible study at church. I'm so excited to begin this study. I think it will be very relevant to my life right now. Just from being there this morning, I felt refreshed and rejuvenated - and we haven't even actually started the study yet!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Big Day for the Little Man!

Today was Robby's first day of Kid's Day Out!  He is going two days a week from 8:30-12:30.  I had quite a bit of a hard time last night and early this morning, but when it came to drop him off, I was good!  It helped that he walked right in and just started exploring and playing.  I think it's hard for me just knowing he's old enough to do something by himself and not need me.  But, that's one of the main points of parenting, isn't it?

 Everything all set out the night before

My mom sent a note in my lunch EVERY day I was in school.  I am going to do the same thing, but since Robby can't read yet, I have made these little cards with pictures of each family member (extended, as well) and am going to change them out each day.  I thought it might be fun for him to see a familiar face at lunch time!

 The big day!

 He was really enjoying the sign!

 Mommy putting on her brave face!  :-)

The big boy needed a little help down the step!  

 He looks so big!

 Showing me his "backback" with a "Kaikai" on it!

We're here!

When we walked in the room, his teacher pointed out Robby's backpack and how it fit in perfectly with their room because they are the monkeys!  How perfect!  I pointed out Robby's little monkey cubby and we put his backpack in it.  I tapped on his name and he went to the other cubbies and tapped on the monkeys!

 He found himself a chair and climbed right up.

His teacher got him a puzzle and he started playing!  We slipped out and watched for a quick second through the window.  Robby never even looked back!

I ran a few errands after we dropped him off then Charlie and I headed home.  I'm really going to enjoy some one-on-one time with Charlie!  When I picked him up he was so excited.  On his sheet it said he was happy and sweet all day.  That's my boy!  When we got home he conked out and took over a 3 hour nap!

Six Months!

My littlest man,

I really can't believe you are 6 months old!  You are half a year old!  I guess I better start planning your first birthday party, huh?  :-)

You are amazing us every day with your sweet personality and your constant changes.  You have been rolling for a few months now, but this month you mastered sitting all by yourself.  Although you usually end up falling after about 5 minutes, we are surprised at how quickly it seems that you mastered it.  You love to touch our faces.  It's so sweet how you will stroke our cheek and noses.  Anything on your brother that you can reach, you grab onto.  Robby always thinks it's funny.  We've been bathing you both at the same time and both of you think it's the best!  You are a bath lover, staying in for up to 20 minutes.  I know you would stay in there longer if we would let you.  Your favorite bath time activity is chewing on your brother's foam letters and numbers.  He likes to help you reach them by piling them all around you.

You love your feet.  Any chance you can, you grab on to them.  Also, you are quite the loud little thing!  You don't just jabber quietly like Robby did.  You YELL your jabber!  It gets to the point that your daddy and I can't hear anything over you!  We just have to sit back and laugh while we wait for you to finish talking.  At times, I think that your upset but when I look at you, I realize that you are just talking really loudly!  I am proud to say, you say "Ma-ma" all the time.  I'm glad you do because your brother said "Da-da" first!  You do NOT like to be left alone in a room and you are sure to let me know.  Once someone walks back in the room and you see them, you're just fine!  You are beginning to crawl.  Most of the time you are just up on your hands and knees rocking back and forth but several times you have put your knees in motion and crawled forward.  I kind of wondered if you would be a later crawler because you are so skilled at rolling.  Anywhere that you want to go, you roll or scoot there.  It's so cute to see you trying to get closer to me or your brother.

You are an excellent sleeper, even better than your brother was, if you can believe that!  You go to bed around 6:30 and sleep until about 7:30.  You are taking a 6oz bottle about every 3-4 hours during the day.  In between bottles, you eat oatmeal cereal, rice cereal, and various fruit and veggie baby foods.  I can't tell if you have a favorite food because you devour everything we put in front of you!  I decided to introduce you to a sippy cup about a week early just to see what you would do with it.  Well, you took right to it.  You knew just how to hold it, put it in your mouth, and drink from it.  I was a tad shocked!  You are wearing 6 month shirts, 6-9 month onesies, and 0-3 month shorts.  You are long but skinny and the 0-3 month shorts are the only ones that will stay around your waist!  When you are in disposable diapers, you wear size 2 but we will probably get you size 3 this next time.  I can't wait to see your stats in a few weeks when we have your 6 month check up.

You are beginning to crawl.  Most of the time you are just up on your hands and knees rocking back and forth but several times you have put your knees in motion and crawled forward.  I kind of wondered if you would be a later crawler because you are so skilled at rolling.  Anywhere that you want to go, you roll or scoot there.  It's so cute to see you trying to get closer to me or your brother.  I can see the outline of your two bottom teeth.  It's just a matter of time before they break through.  You haven't been fussy or had any changes in appetite or sleep, so I'm hopeful that you will be a great teether like your brother. 

You are so happy, sweet boy!  I can't get enough of your big eyes and precious smile.  You love to hold my fingers and just stare at me.  You have the sweetest laugh!  Whenever someone talks to you, you get the biggest, open mouthed grin on your face and just start making all kinds of noises!

Thank you for being such a perfect boy!  Your daddy and I love you more than we ever thought possible!

Mommy

On Saving a Little Money...

After reevaluating our budget and making plans to drastically pay down or pay off some things in the next year to two years, we realized we needed to make some major cost saving changes.  I have been pinning some things lately that I was ready to start implementing and thought I would share them.

First, I decided to make some homemade mixes.  I found some basic ones that I wanted to start with, including a Bisquick mix, brownie mix, white cake mix, pancake mix, tortilla mix, and cornbread mix.  I printed out the recipe for the mix and the directions for making whatever it is.

My plan is to get some clear containers for all the mixes and put the directions on the front and the recipe for the mix on the back and cover them in contact paper so they don't get messed up.  I'm on the lookout for some good containers that don't cost a fortune, since spending $50 on containers for the mixes kind of negates the purpose of making the mixes to save money!  So far, I've only made the Bisquick, brownie, and white cake mixes.  I will be making the others in the next couple of days.

I don't spend a ton of money on store bought breads and doughs, but I would say I spend at least $25 a month on things like that.  Considering that is $300 a year, I decided that I would be better about making things at home.  I have a bread maker that I use, but since that can take as little as 45 minutes and as much as 4 hours to make something, I wanted to have something that was quicker on hand all the time.  I will mainly use the Bisquick mix for pizza crusts, biscuits, and general breads for meals.  I doubled this recipe and am expecting it to last us at least 3 months.  I had everything except the nonfat dry milk on hand to make the mix, so it really didn't cost much to make it. And in the future, when I need to make more, I'll have everything already so it won't cost anything to make it. I made the pizza crust last night and it was really good!  I'll had some herbs to it next time to give it a little something more.  Tim and I noticed that it was more filling than my previous store bought dough or bread maker dough.  That's a good thing since we will probably end up eating less.  I, of course, had to make the brownie mix last night, too, in order to see if it was any good!  :-)  The brownies got Tim's seal of approval!  Our favorite way to eat brownies is in muffin form.  We both like the edges of the brownies, so when I make them as a muffin, we usually only have about one bite that doesn't include an edge.  I haven't tried the cake mix yet, but I don't really make all that many cakes.  I am looking forward to using this to make quick cobblers and I have a big cookie recipe that uses a cake mix.  It will just be good to have it on hand.  And the cost to make that entire container of cake mix was less than buying two boxes of cake mixes.  Also, I made some cookie mixes to have on hand.  I make pretty much only make homemade cookies but sometimes I want them and don't want to go to all the trouble of getting everything out and making them.  This way, all I have to do is add a few ingredients and bake them!  I had all the items needed to make two of each of these mixes (except for the gingerbread since I'm not really a fan!).

Second, I am back to making my own pizza and pasta sauces.  I used to do this all the time, but had gotten out of the habit of it.  I have a super easy pizza sauce recipe and it cost a little over $2 to make 5 pizzas worth of sauce.  (BTW, my sauce recipe is just a 29 oz can of tomato sauce, a 15oz can of tomato paste, 2 Tbsp dried oregano, 1 Tbsp minced garlic, and 1 tsp basil.)  I put one cup of sauce in each bag and put them in the freezer to have ready to go for pizza night, which is about once a week!

Third, I had no idea how much cheaper it was to shred my own cheese instead of buying the bags already shredded.  I purchased cheddar and monterey jack cheeses at Costco for less than $5 for 2 pounds of each.  That makes almost 10 cups of shredded cheese.  That much cheese already shredded is about $10.  We go through a TON of cheese around here.  I would usually buy 4 or 5 bags of shredded cheese every two weeks.  This is going to be a great way for us to save.  I was excited to get to use my food processor as a cheese grater!  When I shredded the mozzarella cheese, it clumped pretty badly.  After doing some quick research, I discovered that it's best to freeze the cheese before you shred it so it won't clump as much.  I packaged them in bags with 2 cups of shredded cheese and wrote the date I shredded it on the bags.

Fourth, is meal planning for the entire month.  I've talked on here before about meal planning.  I didn't keep up with it very well, but now I am doing better.  The way I have done it for the month is having a specific type of meal on each day.  So on Sundays I will make a big meat meal and some sides.  So this month we are having ham one Sunday, then a turkey breast, a roasted whole chicken, a roast, and a pork tenderloin.  The reason I decided to make that type of meal on Sunday is I can plan to use the leftovers in other dishes throughout the week.  Mondays are pizza nights because Mondays are usually pretty rough for me and that is a quick meal that I can make.  Tim informed me that we could have pizza three times a week and he would be fine, but I don't think I could handle that.  We're not in college anymore!  Tuesdays are Italian.  The great thing about this is I can make all the Italian dishes for the month in one day and freeze them if I wanted.  So all I have to do is pop them in the oven and we're good to go.  Or if I know I'm going to have plenty of time that evening, I can just make it that day.  I like the option of having the meals already in the freezer whenever I can!  This month, our Italian meals are lasagna, baked spaghetti, fettucini bake, and manicotti.  Wednesdays are breakfast for dinner nights!  One of my friends told me that she does this with her family and I LOVE it!  We all love breakfast foods and it's nice to be able to sit and enjoy it together since that's not possible for us to do in the mornings since Tim leaves so early.  This month we are having fried eggs and waffles, breakfast tacos with bacon, breakfast casserole, and ham, eggs, and country potatoes.  The fun thing about this is we can make it as simple or as complex as we want, but it's still just yummy breakfast food.  Usually these are really quick meals, which is something I love, as well!  Thursdays will be leftover days.  Fridays are Mexican!  We both LOVE Mexican food and it has, without really being planned this way, always been our Friday night thing.  Before kids, we would usually go out every Friday night to our favorite Mexican restaurant.  This month, we are having taco bake (minus the gross cheese sauce!), black bean and chicken bake, chicken tacos, and enchiladas.  And I'm pretty sure we will have cheese dip with every one of those!  :-)  Saturdays will be another night for leftovers.  I wish I could be more creative with my recipes and try a lot of new ones.  These are all things I've made a ton, but it's getting to the point that I'm good if I can even get dinner made while taking care of the boys.  I'm hoping in a few months I can start branching out and doing more interesting meals!  I'm thinking that with having a set plan for every meal, I will know how better to shop and know that I have everything on hand for all the meals, HOPEFULLY leading to us not eating out.

Fifth, I'm going to make our own laundry detergent.  I haven't done this yet because we have enough for a little while longer.  But I'm really excited about this.  I've heard from people who have made this recipe that it costs $11 for supplies and it lasts anywhere between 6 months to an entire year.  Can you imagine only spending $11 on detergent for a whole year??  Along with that, I found a cheap way to refill my foaming soap pumps!  I read that I could use about an inch of baby bath wash in the soap container then fill the rest with water and mix it up.  I tried that but the bath wash didn't completely mix up and I didn't get as much foam as I wanted.  I have several of these big containers of clear Palmolive that I picked up for $1 each a little while back.  I used that instead and it mixed completely and makes a great foam!  I'm excited to know that I can refill my soap containers probably 20 times from one of these big bottles that cost me $1 instead of using the refill soap you have to buy for $5 and only refills it 4 or 5 times.

I hope I didn't bore you too much with this.  I hope someone might find some little tips they can use to save a little.  I would really love to hear about any ways you pinch pennies and save money!  I need as many ideas as possible!

The Happenings of My Little Man

Robby has been doing so many new things lately.  I really want to be able to remember all the cute things he says and does.  Here are several of the cute things he does.

-He loves saying "Two".  When I count, gets really excited and yells out "TWO" after I say "one".  Whenever I hand him something, he always wants one for his other hand as well, so he'll ask "two?".  He also holds up the appropriate fingers for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.  It's cute to see him struggle to get it just right then get excited when he gets it!

-He loves his little brother.  When I go into the boys' room in the morning and get him out of his crib, he immediately asks for "Charlie".  And after church, they usually bring Robby out of the nursery to us first.  When they round the corner with Charlie, Robby starts saying his name over and over.  I love hearing him say it.

-He enjoys helping me unload the dishwasher and he will say what it is that he's getting out: "'poon, fork, bowl, cup, bottle".  After we are done, he carries the utensil basket around with him and puts things in all the compartments of it.

-He carries anything with a strap or handle on the crook of his elbow.  It cracks me up because it is like he's carrying around a purse.  There is a particular pink bin that has a handle on it that he carries like this and puts his cup, keys, and wallet in it.

-When we were watching the olympics several weeks ago, I would cheer on the swimmers and runnings by saying "Go, go, go!"  Robby started saying it with me, too.  Now, whenever I want him to hurry, I'll just say "Go, go, go!" and he will start running.  When the boys were bathing the other night, he said, "go, go, go!" and started moving his legs under the water like he was running.  It cracked me up because he kept doing it.

-He likes to name the people in the pictures on his wall.  Every time I put him on the changing table, he lists "mama, daddy, baby".

-At least 10 times a day, Robby will come up to me and just say "mama mama mama mama mama mama mama..." for no reason except that he wants to be near me and have me look at him.  Sometimes I get a tad annoyed because I'm trying to get something done and can't concentrate, but then I hear how cute it is and just have to laugh!

-I've mentioned before how much he LOVES shoes.  He always asks for his "shooooooes".  Some mornings, that's what he asks for first thing.  Any time Tim's or my shoes are laying around, he gets them and brings them to us and makes us put them on our feet.  The other day, he brought my wedges to me while I was cooking dinner and made me put them on.  So there I was, in my workout shorts, tank top, and silver wedges!  Quite the sight!

-He picks up on things that I don't even realize we do or say.  Whenever I huff, he will huff.  If I say, "Oh my gosh!", he yells "Goooooosh".  Apparently, I've said "Weeeeeeee" at some point when we were doing something.  Now, whenever he runs, slides, climbs on top of something, jumps, whatever, he says, VERY loudly, "WEEEEEEEEEEE!"

-He has started clasping his hands together and bowing his head when we pray.  When we are done, he says "'Men!"  I almost cry every time!

-When he knows we are about to leave the house, he starts saying "Go" and "Bye" until we get to the door.  Also, he always has to take something with him when we leave the house.  Some days it's just Kaikai, but other days it's several little things.  The other day, he tried to take the bumbo seat and another day he tried to take a big shoe box.

-He watches a few episodes of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" in the mornings and a few in the evening (during that horrible hour before Tim gets home).  Whenever he wants to watch one, he tells me "Toodles!"  I find it funny that that is the character he says and not any of the others!  I think it's because they will call for Toodles and he likes to do call for him, too.

-We like to FaceTime with my mom in the afternoons and sometimes in the evenings when I'm trying to get dinner done.  He will carry the phone around and jabber to her and show her different things.  He has watched me use the phone to show her Charlie so he will turn it around to show him to her, too.  However, this has led him to ask for "LaLa" every time I pick up my phone.  There have been a few times that we've FaceTimed with her and my dad was home, also, so he was able to talk to "Pa".  Now, if I tell him he can't talk to LaLa, he will ask for "Ba".

-He can't say "Grandma" or "Grandpa", so I've been working with him to say "Gloria" and "Bill" instead.  They come out "Grory" and "Bow"!

-He has started telling me "nigh nigh" whenever Charlie or Annie are asleep or whenever we put his pajamas on at night.  Pretty much every word he says, he says it twice now.

-He is finally calling a dog "daw" when he hears or sees one instead of calling them all "Mannie".  When we go for our walks, we pass by a certain yard with a dog and it can hear us on the other side so it starts barking.  Robby gets really excited and says "Daw, daw, daw!"

-He makes a craft in Sunday School every Sunday.  I adore each one and love to see how his little hands are getting more and more coordinated to be able to put stickers on things and use stamps and colors.  I'm beginning to see why there are so many pins on Pinterest about how to archive your child's artwork and projects.  I want to put each on on the fridge but there just isn't enough room!



I am so thankful to see Robby grow and change.  He is starting to lose some of the baby-ness in his face and is looking more like a boy.  It kills me sometimes when I look at him and see a boy instead of my little baby.  He is going to start going to Mother's Day Out next week.  I hope I can handle it!

Wordless Wednesday: Sleeping Beauties

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