15 month pictures +

Miss Violet at 15 Months

Remember when I start every post about Violet the same "She's unpredictable" "Has no norms" "Blablabla"...Well this post is no different.  She's spunky, she's opinionated and makes me oh so tired...I love it!

Growth: I think she's 20 lbs.  She's too tall for her 12 months, but too skinny for her 18 month clothes, except if she's in cloth.
Transportation Skills: close to walking again (3 independent steps today! - after our stride right purchase!)
Words: hi, hat, momma, dada, whats dat, oops, juice, uh huh,and various phrases that only a parent would qualify as anything!
Attitude:  Looks away if you ask her to take a bite, either to protest or to be funny, arches her back and throws a fit if you make her do something she doesn't want to,  has started doing a forced laugh when she thinks she's funny, wants whatever Benjamin has...the list goes on
Eating:  She's getting better and better at eating.  She would have avocado's and banana's at every meal if she could, and also shredded meat (pulled pork or chicken)  she likes the insides of tacos (meat and beans) and of coarse chocolate...
Sleeping...She has slept through the night(11/12 hrs) since I stopped nursing(12 months), and was going down fantastic, pre-cast and during the casts, but now post casts, she's started thinking she's hungry or thirsty, and it breaks my heart...so i give in.  Yes I know the likeliness of her being hungry isn't good, but she eats and demands it be followed by a drink, and then cuddles...and i like it :)  Tonight was the exception to her going down well the 2nd time and I did something very "risky" and put Benjamin down at the same time...she cried for a second, and he talked for a couple minutes, and then they were out...weird!  I can't believe it worked!  They wake up at 6:45 if they hear Joel or I, but usually 7:15 on Satudays and Sundays.

She LOVES shoes (stride rite sz 4) and also she loves her Puma zip up jacket.  I hide it from her, because she demands it be on, if she finds it...actually she likes most zip ups...She still loves getting her toes painted, and although we can get her hair in pig tails, she won't leave them in.  She let me read her first "long" dr seuss book tonight.  No crying, squirming, ripping or, throwing the book off her lap...she loved it!  It gave me warm fuzzies :) SO different than her big brother!  She's super ticklish like her brother, and may have possibly beat him in blueness of eyes...I'm thinking his are close to his momma's, but her's are bright like nana's.

I'm so excited she's close to being mobile and independent again, maybe a little bit because I'm tired/lazy, but mostly because I know how happy she is when she can move.  Already this week, two of the last four mornings It's been pure bliss as they played quietly by themselves for at least 30 minutes.  This morning Leeland played in the background as I got some stuff done around the house, and they read books to themselves, and played with trains...This has been absent since pre-casting, and I miss it, not because I have a problem with noise, but because she hasn't been happy and its been contagious.  All in all, we were very fortunate with minor annoyances via casts, but I can still be happy its over :)

Okay, I'll get to the fun picture part of the post, but I had a pretty good 20 minutes soaking in all the things that make miss Violet such a blessing to our family!

Okay nevermind...the pictures aren't working...you'll just have to check facebook...

Penny Pinching month

!!!WARNING!!! Read no further if you have no interest in food, meal planning, saving money, etc...the following post is primarily for my records, and a tiny bit for others looking to shrink their grocery budget.

So I haven't had a very strict budget for about a year now.  Not because I shouldn't have had one, but just because I was too lazy to give myself one.  I would tell Joel that I was going to give myself one for the month, and he would say, "ok, good idea" but then I wouldn't get to the bank at the beginning of the month, or he would run to the store for me several times not using the allotted cash, or I would go to the store and shop with my emotions.  This third scenario was the culprit of many shopping trips in January, and with bank account dwindling, still owning our house, and the idea of living on love and loans come August ( the Lewicki law school school adventure) I needed to reclaim the reigns on my spending.  After all, live like no one else, so that later, you can live like no one else...right? :)

Well its going great...seriously.  I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams that it would go this well.  And frankly I think we're even eating a little bit healthier.  Pause.  I should clarify healthy.  We are not by any stretch of the imagination stereotype health food people.  When I say "healthier",  we first need to understand that being healthier than we were didn't take that much...I mean we're always going to be suckers for frozen pizza...But along with our 2 frozen pizzas, homemade pizza, and pizza for the sitters saturday night, we are having TONS more fresh fruit and vegetables, organic milk, and a variety of meat.  We're drinking more water and less pop, and rewarding ourselves with desert after some meals...sometimes its 5 m&m's, and sometimes its a brownie and ice cream...the point is...Its healthier.

I feel as though I've gotten off on a tangent.  Yes we're eating better...blablabla.  My first point is that we've done it dirt cheap.  I think we're going to do it for $56.25 per person this month.  We don't have any allergies or health concerns so we are pretty fortunate, and we've only gotten organic milk 2/3 of the time.  Also we have a freezer full of tacos, and we will take advantage of them 4 times this month.  Add to that, the short month, and the commitment to using everything we can in our cupboard's accumulating excess, and you can see this will be hard to duplicate.  I have learned however, that being frugal is only a matter of necessity, and it can then happen.  Also, that having a freezer and mass producing something like tacos is completely worth the investment. Find a meal that you can eat once or maybe even twice a week and suck it up.  Switch it up with avocado dip one time for dinner and chips and salsa the next for lunch (or have both, both times:)  My last "trick", that everyone else has been doing for hundreds of years is Chili for sunday lunch,  Chili dogs a few days later, and then freeze some and have chili on your baked potato bar the next week.  (I'm looking for  more meals like this!)

Our meals consisted of:

• chili
• frzn pizza x 3
• turkey sandwiches
• ham sandwiches
• baked potato bar
• tacos x 3
• spaghetti carbonara
• chili dogs x 2
• lettuce wraps
• broccoli chicken soup
• lasagna
• homemade pizza x 1
• chicken lo mein
• BBQ chicken sandwiches
• jambalaya
• ramen x 1
• mac n cheese x 1
• curry chicken dish

Sides and snacks

• cottage cheese
• yogurt - endless amounts
• crackers and cheese
• broccolli - devoured by benjamin with ranch
• grapes
• bananas - violets favorite
• avocados - violets other favorite
• apple sauce
• apples
• cucumbers and peanut butter
• french bread - most meals without another bread source/bun
• homemade rolls
• potato salad - not liked by the kids
• fruit snacks - thomas box at the store, for $1...momma got them even though they weren't on the shopping list. :)
• raisins
• prunes

Other splurges:

• $3.50 Wine for V-Day
• $3.50 18 assorted brownies at Aldi...for Valentines day
• $14 on a fabulous meal with friends to celebrate their first baby!

The month is obviously not over, and so some of those meals are plans and not realities yet, but with ALL we have purchased so far, and the groceries I know we'll have to buy before February 28 - I am committed to staying under $225 for the month of February.  Another notable fact is that I have not, and do not foresee having to buy any "wal-mart" items this month.  We had plenty of paper products, Violets momentarily back to cloth diapers, and i had a full supply of soaps and detergents.  

Well, for the two people that have read this far, my older sister, and one very bored stranger...I hope you got some good ideas, or at least were able to be excited with me for having finally learned some tricks to tackling meal time! :)

Take my stuff

So I'm in purge mode and that means my loss is your gain :)  Call me if you want to come over and check out my basement garage sale :)  And by sale I mean, take it and if its worth anything offer to watch my kids sometime, or bring me a coffee, or pizza, donation, or whatever its worth :)

"Sad to see them go" Items :

• Mens xl Gap Coat  (short black casual/dressy)
• Mens Columbia outdoor coat (warm but a "couple" seasons old)
• KenethCole Reaction dress pant 38x32
• 2 formal dresses
• Silver/Black target bread box
• Hobby Lobby Flowers
• Canadian Leaf Frame
• Leaf Plate w/ stand
• Calla Lilly Wall art
• Fondue Pot
• retractable chord hair dryer (Conair)
• Silver Vase
• Fuzzy Buns & Happy Heiny cloth diapers
• Carters small diaper bag
• "Vintage" vacuum cleaner

Worth Less

• Mens xl button down
• Salad Spinner (xo brand)
• Target sz 2 diapers
• baby blanket (yellow and white ducky)
• pampered chef salad dressing mixer
• cook books
• Sm cranberry rug

Good Will bound

• plastic Doll house
• Walmart tea dispenser
• Christmas bows (gold with a twist tie)
• Candle holders

lose/lose

So, lately Benjamin is scared of the dark, and he already didn't go to bed well for Momma when Daddy was gone for the night, and now it is even trickier.  I thought I had manipulated him into sleeping in his own bed...Violet went down at 7:15 (cried at the word bed time and sight of her crib, but fell silent as soon as her head hit her blanket!).  I than read "lots of stores", to Benjamin...45 minutes worth to be exact! (He's very into quantities lately. 5 is common, but tonight it was "lots and lots")  Then I warned him when it was our last story, and said if he went to bed in Benjamin's bed without crying, he got gum in the morning.  He then bartered with me, and asked for a big piece of gum (I normally give him 1/2) and he won.  We read, we walked, and then Momma made a critical error...I forgot he still had his gum in his mouth, and he is a new chewer, and didn't realize he had to take it out to sleep...So going to bed without crying was looking improbable.  I then agreed to leave the door open, and he asked for the hall light on.  He won again, and I thought we were in the clear.  Well, occasionally Violet wakes up when Benjamin goes down, and we ignore her, and before we've reached the door, she falls back asleep.  Well, tonight the light was on in the hall, and It was a lose or lose for this chick.  Leave the door open/light on and Violet would continue screaming...Shut the door or turn the light off and Benjamin would go ballistic.
Having no choice, I quickly grabbed Benjamin and ran out of the room.  Violet must have been in a terrible section of her sleep cycle because she was ticked!  I put Benjamin in our bed, and went back to comfort Violet...Long Story (made a little bit shorter) this continued, and two hours after the beginning of bed time...They are both finally asleep.  What a night!  I had big plans for my "post 8:00 evening"  But warn out, and deathly afraid to make a noise has left me right in front of my computer...posting again! (I feel like this scenario keeps replaying itself on the nights Joel is gone!  With a small house, one VERY light sleep, and another requesting the door open, not much is getting done in my neck of the woods.  Oh well I guess!

With all that said, here's some pictures :)

Violet has eaten her share of wax this week.  I was hopeless with a sad girl, poo pooing every idea because of her age, her obsession with eating things, fear of getting the casts wet or dirty...etc.  Well I gave up being careful, and her new favorite activity is coloring.  She doesn't use the paper very much, and I find a lot of crayons in her mouth (I do try to pay attention, really I do!), but she's a much happier girl this week...and for that we are all happy!

Her new favorite spot in the house!  

She talks for a very long period of time!  Hallelujah!

I can't even begin to tell you how much happier she is this week than last!

This is our new favorite look of violets...She gives it a lot!

I took this picture because she was being silly with her grapes, but it shows off her new hair cut...I couldn't look at her head without wincing, so something had to be done!  I could get pig tails in, but she takes them out in seconds.  So I layered up the back and cut more/shorter bangs.  I think it improved things immensely!

Happy Friday All!

Tuesday start up

I think Nana loves to see pictures her 'littles' when she gets to work, so here's some pictures to start the day!

what do you do when you have food in your hair, and can't take a bath?  

she was soo embarrassed!

nana and papa got us these chairs for christmas, and they came in VERY handy yesterday, when I needed SOMETHING to pacify miss Violet ( she only fell out twice, and face planted once!) :)

book worm

"dat" 

"CHEEEEEEESE!"

Loves his Tod and Copper...and Big Momma the owl

"dat"

"momma, momma, momma, momma"

gardening in February?