Small Rant & Baby Updates

I started blogging to express myself and I started following others' blogs to learn about them and simply live life together. This being said, I am slightly annoyed with the blogs that are only giveaways, etc. I appreciate something free as much as the next person, but when your entire blog is dedicated to giveaways only and you never actually post anything else, that isn't a blog!! I really enjoy blogs that have a little of the person in them, that allows us to go through the day-to-day together.

In other news, I took Lucy for her nine month check-up today. Everything is good per Dr. Tigar. She now weighs 21 lbs, 12 oz and is 28 1/4 inches long! She is a BIG GIRL. And he was pretty proud of her for being about to cruise already. I am so proud of her for being such a happy and sweet baby. She really is wonderful 99.9% of the time and it makes me wonder how can I complain the other .01% of the time. I really think God made her so wonderful because He truly does want us to have a large family. To this I say, BRING IT ON!!

Hope you all have a good weekend. Happy Friday!!

<>< Cassie

Friday Follow - April 30th

Today is my Friday

Today is my Friday, in terms of work. I don't work Fridays normally but I am also off today because the doc I work for it out of town. Not only will I be getting a 4 days weekend, I get most of next week off too! Wow I love working part-time!!

Insurance

I have spent the biggest part of my day speaking with various people regarding my insurance. We got our new insurance cards in the mail from Gary's new job (PRAISE THE LORD!). Because of this, I had make tons of calls today. I called Lucy's pediatrician, her previous insurance company, my new dentist, and a few family physicians. In addition to this, I realized today that we've been paying renter's insurance on top of our home owner's policy. I know this makes us sound silly and frivolous but let me explain. Our renter's insurance was tied in with our car insurance and is paid every six months. We technically bought our home from Gary's grandmother and were originally paying in a rent-to-own manner. She decided to organize the paperwork in January to say that we own the home because she trusts us to pay her and because she thought it would help us receive the first-time home buyer tax credit (which it didn't) and therefore, we changed the home owner's insurance policy into our names (because we were paying it anyway). Anyway, we forgot to call and cancel our renter's insurance because it was already paid in November. Our policy renews in May and I just realized that I could have been reimbursed for the past few months! Needless to say, there was a lot of waiting but I got it all worked out. Though I appreciate having insurance for the first time in far too long, I doubt I'll be calling any of our companies again unless something crazy happens!! :D

New?

If you're new to my blog and want to get to know me, I encourage you to check out: Loves
And of course, post your own! My goal as a blogger is to put myself out there and get to know the other incredible women in the blogging community!

Much love and many blessings,
Cass

Kinda Sad

Tonight after I had fed our daughter and cooked our dinner, eaten, and cleaned up, I sat back and thought, "What next?" I love my family and I love that I have so much more time with them. The time I have to make our house a home is very important to me. BUT, I realized that because I got so much accomplished this weekend, I had nothing to do for the rest of the night. I feel kind of pathetic because I don't really know what I enjoy doing anymore aside from cleaning, cooking, couponing, and blogging. I guess I need to figure out something else that I can do just for me.

Lucy Scarlett - Nine Months Old Already

Thanks to another blogging mommy, I decided to make a little stats chart for my growing baby girl. 

Lucy's Nine Month Stats

Clothes: 12 months

Weight and Height: We'll find out April 30th at your well-visit (around 21lbs., 28 inches long)

Diaper: size 3

Food: 24(ish) oz of formula per day, 3-5 jars a day, and usually some snacks (Puffs, tiny fruit pieces, or yogurt melts)


Teeth: Two are in but you are working on THREE more!!

Sleep: Two-three naps each day totaling about 3.5 hours. Your bedtime is 8(again ish)pm and you usually sleep until 6:30 or 7:00.

Favorite toys: You love stuffed animals. You love balls and blocks that you can beat together. You love your fisher price sing along mirror and music maker. And you love your rocking zebra!

Favorite show: Baby Einstein: Baby Da Vinci, anything with Elmo

You love: Mommy and/or Daddy walking into the room, phones (already, yikes!), dancing, waving and saying "HI" all the time, being tickled, being thrown up in the air!

Five Question Fridays

1. What was the first car you owned?

'94 Nissan Sentra (navy, I think) - I drove that thing like it was a muscle car or something. Needless to say, it died after a long and speedy life. :)

2. What song are you embarrassed to know the lyrics to?

I STILL know the rap part of "Waterfalls" by TLC - I found this out on my way home from work about a month ago when that blast from the past came on the radio

3. Have you ever had stitches?

yes - wisdom teeth extraction sites, both knees, C-Section closure... I think that's it

4. What was your first job?

BiLo grocery cashier (3 years?)

5. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character?

Elmo, but only because someone recently gave Lucy an Elmo DVD; before that, I don't think I've ever watched the show.

Friday Follow - April 23rd

April 23rd Friday Follow is here!! I love these things because I love people and getting a chance to network like this is awesome. I have a few posts bouncing around in my head, so hopefully one will come to fruition today. Happy Friday girls and boys!

Quickie... more to follow

You can use this link to create an ebates account. I just got my first check and there was no work involved. Check it out!!


http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=NAoXLxzIiGdy%2F5NWoitF4w%3D%3D

short and sweet... just like me :)

As the title states, I'll keep today's post short and sweet.

1) YAH for the NFL draft beginning tonight. I love football so much!

2) HAPPY EARTH DAY! I encourage each of you to make a list (even a small 3-4 item one will work) of things that you and your family can do to make our Earth a better place. I'll include my list tomorrow.

For now, I'm taking my printer cartridges to Walgreen's to take advantage of the $1 refills they have (today only) and then heading over to Books-A-Million to get myself some FREE coffee (just have to take my own mug).

Take care friends!

Much love and many blessings,
Cassie

teething and it's side effects...

My poor child is cutting three teeth at the same time. She currently has two and they are on the bottom and they were a cake-walk compared with this time around. I thought she was going to be one of the lucky ones when her first two teeth came through with a slightly restless night and some baby Oragel.

However, I am finding that having three teeth trying to come through at once (two of those being uppers) is a little more difficult. I feel so sorry for her. She has a snotty nose, she's lost her appetite, and she is chewing on anything and everything, including her hands (not just A finger but hand and all). I would have thought she was sick if I couldn't feel the teeth and if she seemed to have any other symptoms. The worst part is that normally she's a happy baby. But this has made her exhausted, fussy, and pitiful.

I hope these teeth hurry up because I want my baby back. I'm not upset with her, I'm upset for her because nothing seems to help. Even with a runny nose, she's still a cutie! :)

Home

We bought our home in March 2009. We actually moved in May 1, 2009. Today, I finished cleaning and unpacking. How horrible is it that the whole process took me nearly a year? In my defense, I was pregnant for a significant part of that and my daughter has taken priority over order since that time. :) Also, a great deal of the unpacked things were in the storage section of our basement. Things are really coming together and I am especially proud of our space now that all the pictures are hung on the walls, and it truly looks like a happy home.

I think a home is never really complete. We have a nice "to do" list for making ours just perfect. But something tells me that it will take more than a year to create a patio, plant some trees, create a garden, build new stairs to our deck, add-on to the master bedroom, etc. Aside from the obvious financial burden these things create, it's pretty likely that I'll have another bun in the oven before a year is up and of course our list seems to be on-going. Regardless, it is so much fun to be homeowners and to have the freedom to make a space your own. We have been truly blessed with this home and I have to say that I really enjoy the responsibilities that come along with it.

<>< Cass

Monday Blog Hop - Love these things...

I'm joining a brand new blog hop. I love these things because I love reading about others' lives and getting a chance to pray for people I'll probably never meet. It's too fun!

A Little Late...

I've joined this Follower Friday site and absentmindedly forgot to actually post in on my blog. Next week I'll be better. :D

Opinions Welcome

Today a bit of an unbelievable situation occurred while I had lunch with a friend and our children. Let me lay this out for all to visualize and I'd like your opinions, please.

My girlfriend Marlene and I went to Panera for lunch and catch-up time with our children (ages 5 months and 8 months). Across the aisle from us sat a 40-something mother and her 4ish year-old daughter. We'll just call them Mrs. I'm-on-my-blackberry-constantly and little Miss I-just-want-attention. So Mrs. Blackberry completely ignored her daughter for a solid 10 minutes while the girl literally rolls around on the floor and makes squeaking noises. At this point in time, Miss Attention-seeker finds my daughter sitting in her high chair smiling and starts to talk to her and get closer and closer and then begins to poke her in the back. I forgot to mention that Mrs. Blackberry has now completely left her daughter unattended (no idea where she went, just that she left her 4-year-old for a few minutes). So I politely say "Please don't poke her." She walks back across the aisle and begins to roll around in the seat again and finally her mother comes back. Again, I forgot to mention, Mrs. Blackberry has yet to quit texting or web-surfing. Literally, the woman hasn't even looked up the entire time. And again Miss Attention-seeker comes over to poke my daughter. I asked her again, without a hint of rudeness in my voice to please stop touching my daughter. At this, Mrs. Blackberry gets very defensive and yells at her kid to come back to her. When Mrs. Blackberry's other daughter, a teen or early 20-something shows up, she begins talking loudly about how I was rude to Miss Attention-seeker. She goes on and on and finally I had to say something. I again wasn't rude, simply said that I have every right to ask that her daughter not touch my daughter when I honestly don't know where her hands have been and I don't particularly appreciate that she left her child unattended because I would feel personally responsible if something had happened when I was around. She said that I was being ridiculous and probably hurt her daughter's feelings because she just likes babies and always wants to touch them.

Here's my issue: I feel completely justified in not wanting some child that was rolling around on the floor and on the seat to put her hands on my daughter and aside from that, poking is a rather rude gesture anyway. I was quite angry that this woman was obviously old enough to have some sense and yet displayed none. How dare her tell me that I'm ridiculous when she wouldn't even talk to her child or give her the attention that she undoubtedly wanted and needed.


Enough ranting... I feel like what I really need to do is pray for the poor little girl. :/

Swag Bucks

Check this out! I plan to get enough Amazon Gift Cards by Christmas to buy all of our gifts. That's my goal anyway. :D
http://www.swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=1768065

2nd Anniversary

Gary and I have been married for two years today and we've known each other for four years. Time has really flown by but it has been wonderful. I can't believe how many things have changed in these two years but I have to say that its been amazing. Happy Anniversary!!

Gary's job

Just a quick word about more blessings in our life. Gary has been an intern for a company in Trenton, GA for the past 2.5 months. His internship was supposed to end April 20th and at that time, they were hoping to create a new position for him. The job was offered to him today with insurance, benefits, and a substantial raise. I am so happy for him and of course for our little family. He has enjoyed his work so much and he hoped that he could stay on after the three month internship. In addition to the excellent perks (benefits, etc.), he really likes the people he works with, especially his direct boss. This is such an incredible blessing for our family and an excellent boost to Gary confidence in his abilities. Thank you Father for this wonderful gift!

Random gibber-jabber

The coupons are addictive and I love saving money but that's not all my blog will consist of. I just love a good deal and it never fails to make me smile when I save us a lot more. Life has been interesting the past few weeks with my new work schedule and the extra time I get to spend with Lucy. I'm certain that it is obvious but FYI, I love my daughter so much. It amazes me daily how much fun I have with her and how wrapped around her finger the world is. I've taken her to the park a few times now and she is in awe of the EVERYTHING. She touches the grass and her eyes get huge, as if to say "Mommy, have you felt this stuff? It is so awesome." She also really loves for me to wear sunglasses because it is a new way for us to play hide and seek. And to top all of this off, she gazes at all the other children and animals with such fasination. It gives me great pleasure to introduce new things to her because she is always so into them. I don't remember when I was that way but I feel confident that most children are. I think it's just so beautiful, to experience her, experiencing all things so whole-heartedly. I love Lucy, my Lucy. :)