Food Storage

Troy and I try to have a good amount food storage. I saw this food storage inventory tool on one of the blogs that I read and I decided to check it out. There was also the incentive of $10 gift card:)

So I counted all of our food storage and put the numbers into the analyzer. It is easy to use; however, I was not sure if my can sizes matched theirs. It also made me think of adding things to our food storage such as dairy and more vegetables as well as cooking supplies. According to the analyzer, we have about 3 and 1/2 months supply of food. I ended up printing out the sheet so I can add or delete cans as we buy/use them.

This is really nice, since I don't keep track of what we order. The fact that we have 97 lbs of rice vs. 30 lbs of pasta shows that I just order whatever:)

If you want to check out your food storage situation and get a gift card. Check it out.

You will receive a free $10 Emergency Essentials® gift card by doing the following:
1. Go to the Food Storage Analyzer™ and create a free account - Click here to go to the Analyzer.
2. Try out the Food Storage Analyzer™ - Click here for Analyzer instructions.
3. Write a review of the Analyzer and post it on your blog and
4. Important: Copy and paste the code in the box below the red button (under step 5) to the bottom of your review post - this will add the red button to the bottom of your post.
5. Send an email to blog@beprepared.com with a link to your blog post. Put 'Blog Post Giveaway' in the subject line of the email so that we can verify your post and the button. Be sure to include your address so we can mail your gift card.

Lauhing With Me Or At Me?

Disclaimer(s): 1. This is terrible camera work because the camera wasn't focused and the lighting was less than desirable, but the audio is OK. 2. I sound like an idiot, but it's all good because my son had fun.

Saku has been smiling since he was six weeks old. He gave me a little giggle amount of a month ago, but mostly he does these silent laughs and squeals a lot.

On Sunday night, he just started laughing and cracking up. I was doing the lovely fake laugh with him and he just kept cracking up. I love his laugh. He laughed like this again the following night when Troy was being silly with him at CVS.

Sunday had been a rough day because he did not take good naps and since we are doing the sleep training, he had cried quite a bit. So when he started laughing, it brought tears to my eyes because it was a reminder of the joys that I get to experience as a mother.

Vomit, Whimpering and One Worried Mamma

Last night, Saku and I were home by ourselves and I was getting him ready for bed. We played in the bath for a while. Saku didn't want to lay back because he loves sitting up. This meant that I had to support him while he was sitting up and make sure he didn't dunk his little face into the bath water as he was reaching for his toys.

After bath time, we put his pajamas on and I started to nurse him. He ate for few minutes on one side and then I switched him to the other side. He ate for few minutes and then pulled away. I tried to get him to keep eating because he gets distracted a lot these days. He pulled away again and started vomiting. It was major projectile vomiting and he vomited five to six times. It was so forceful that his whole little body was shaking and it even came from his little nose. He seemed little upset by the vomit in the nose, but nothing too dramatic. Since we both got soaked with vomit, we went to take a shower. He seemed to be feeling OK even though he wasn't his usual giggly boy in the shower.

After we got out of the shower, he seemed to lose all of his energy and was like a raggedy doll over my shoulder. This worried me, so I called Starla (whom I have claimed as my personal pediatric nurse). I checked his temperature, which was 99.3 rectally. Yes, I checked the rectal temperature and he didn't even bat his eye when I did this, which again made me feel little more uneasy about his situation.

I decided to nurse him just a little bit more to prevent dehydration. He nursed just fine and then vomited about six times again. We both got soaked again. The couch got its own share as well as the carpet. Luckily, Troy got home around this time. It felt safer to have two pairs of eyes watching him and noticing unusual things. Saku was so out of it. He would respond to his name by opening his eyes half way, but he would close them immediately. He also made this whimpering sound, which broke my heart completely. His little face looked green.

We ended up calling the doctor, who just advised us to nurse him small amounts often and give pedialyte to him if he kept throwing up. Thanks Janae for supplying us with some pedialyte. So I ended up nursing him every half an hour for few hours and he was able to keep the milk down. He was more tired than usual, but since he woke up easily when I picked him up from the crib, I was not too concerned.

Ironically, I would say that last night was the first night that he slept through the night. Granted I woke him up at 11 pm to nurse and then 3 am to nurse, BUT he did not wake by himself at all. He woke up at 6:40 and seemed perfectly fine.

Isn't it amazing how quickly children bounce back after being/feeling sick? Saku was all smiles and giggles this morning.

I'm not sure what caused this episode of vomiting, but I am glad it was a brief one. Once again, I realize how challenging motherhood/parenthood can be. It was so hard to watch my baby being sick and let's be honest, it wasn't anything too major.

Our long and lean baby

Our little man is fourth months old.

The important numbers for Saku are the following:

Weight: 15 lb. 8 ozs (65th percentile)

Height: 26 1/4 inches (90th percentile)

Head: 43 1/4 cm (75th percentile)

During the first four months of Saku's life, he has experienced and learned the following things

*eats every four hours for 5-10 minutes

*wears size two diapers

*holds on to toys

*takes binky out of his mouth and puts it back in

*sleeps unswaddled

*has started taking naps that last 1.5 to 2 hours (still amazes me)

*has been to four different states: Utah, Wyoming, Nevada and obviously Arizona

*knows how to throw a temper tantrum; so funny

*in the middle of sleep training (will give you an update on this soon)

*can hold a bottle on his own

*likes to be outside and go on walks

*likes kisses and tickles

*everything goes to his little mouth

*knows how to yell, not cry, but yell at us when he is unhappy

*likes to talk and blow bubbles when he has the binky in his mouth

*we barely take baths since he loves showers so much

*has learned to tolerate the car seat

He gets so excited when I show him the bottle and does not like when all the milk is gone and the bottle has to come out of his mouth.

He is a multi-tasker; thumb sucking and eating at the same time.

Saku's personality is coming out more and more. He is overall a happy and social baby. He does not cry much, but when he is mad, he yells at us and arches his back while throwing his arms up. I can already imagine the wonderful toddlers moments I will have with him.

We love our boy and his spunky personality!

Difficult Decisions

This October brings many exciting events. It is Saku's first Halloween, the weather will start to cool off again and Saku is becoming more and more of a little person with his own distinctive personality. October also forces me to start making some decision about what to do about getting a job.

Yes, most likely I will start working full-time in February as an RN. It is not because we need or want the extra money and it is not because I don't like being a stay-at-home mom. Obviously extra money is wonderful, but we decided a long time ago that we would live in a way that Troy's paycheck would be enough for our family. And I absolutely love being home with Saku. Some days are hard, but I cannot get enough of my little boy.

So why am I considering going to work? I know it is an almost controversial topic among the mormon moms to not stay home. I know people will judge me; even some of my close friends will. This obviously makes things ever more difficult for me.

In an ideal world, I would work one shift a week or one shift every other week as a nurse and stay home with my children for the rest of the time. I believe that I will be a better mom because I would get to balance my ambitions outside of home and my love for my family. It would give me a break from my daily routines and I feel like I would appreciate the simple blessings of watching my children grow as I would get to do something for myself for few hours a week. Unfortunately, no one will let me work only once a week as a new nurse, because I am not trained well enough. This means that I have to work a year to get the experience to be able to work only here and there.

I have mixed emotions about this. I am worried that I will not even get job offers. I am worried that it will be too much to work full-time and be the type of mom that I want to be. I am worried that I will miss important milestones in Saku's life. I am worried that if I do not go to work, I will be too out of practice to be a good nurse in 20 years when my kids don't need me as much. I am worried that if I wouldn't go to work, I would regret or resent that decision later on.

Fortunately, Troy is supportive of my decision either way. I would try to work on weekends, so Troy would get to play mommy while I was at work or while I was sleeping(if I would work the night shift). This would give him a chance to spend more time with Saku. I am grateful for personal revelation and the assurance that Heavenly Father will help us make the right decision for our family.

Don't you just want to kiss him all over?

I love Saku's blue eyes. He is already charming women with them. Also he enjoys chewing on the elephant's trunk while it vibrates.

On a sidenote, you know your baby has sleeping issues when you sneak into his room during a long hour nap to make sure he's still alive:) And he slept unswaddled.

Happiness

Watching your child learn new skills- Saku learned to reach for and hold objects on Friday, Oct. 2, 2009.

A loving and righteous husband who will teach my child about the really important things.

To see someone this excited about simply playing with me.

No words needed to explain why he brings me happiness. Saku got dressed up for the Sunday morning session of General Conference. By the afternoon session, he had to have a different outfit due to a blowout.

Sharing our lives with good friends-Troy and Janae's birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse, September 16, 2009.

A friend who truly loves me for who I am. I miss you, Heather.

First Serious Coupon Experience

I have used coupons here and there, but I never really got into it. However, I keep reading and hearing about people getting tons of groceries for a minimal amount of money or for free, so I decided to give it a try.

Through a blog, I found out that you could get free Chex Mix at Target with coupons, so Troy and I went there last night. I also had coupons for Cheerios so I wanted to use those. We grabbed two bags of Chex Mix and two boxes of Cheerios and some stuff for Saku (I can never go to Target and not buy something spontaneous). We go to the check-out and I hand my 7 coupons to the cashier.

I'm sure she felt like it was her lucky day; especially, since the coupons were printed from the internet and she could not scan them, instead she had to punch the numbers manually. We took a quite bit longer than the average customer, but I wanted to save few dollars. So she tells me the total and I swipe my card and the transaction is over. However, the total seemed higher than it should be.

So I review the receipt and realized that instead of getting a dollar off with my two 50 cent coupons, she made me pay a dollar for the coupons. Seriously?? And also another one dollar coupon was missing. So we head over to the customer service desk and I explain the situation. The customer service lady agrees with me and takes me back to the register where I checked out.

Yes, the cashier was very happy to see me again. And it seriously took 10 minutes to get my three dollars back. You might think that all this hassle for three dollars wouldn't be worth it. There are few reasons why I went back. First, I wasn't going to buy the Chex Mix bags, I just wanted them because they were free. Second, I wouldn't even be that mad if I didn't get the 50 cents off (a dollar combined with two coupons), but I sure did not want to pay for the coupons. Third, I am determined to save money. So I got two 18 oz boxes of Cheerios for four dollars(saved three dollars) and two bags of Chex Mix for free(well for 20 cents because of the tax).

Personally this is a big step for me. Usually, I make Troy do the talking, calling and demanding of things. This time I was an independent woman and I wanted my three dollars back.

Would you have gone back for those three dollars??