Bargain Girl

I've added a new job title to the list...Bargain Girl! I came across a site called Bargain Believer which list great deals around town and a lot of free stuff to pick up. From her site, I became familiar with several other bargain sites as well. Now I'm addicted! My first bargain transaction was buying 2 Entertainment books and actually getting paid $1 to do so. Check it out here. There is still time for you to get in on the deal as well.

Another feature I love about these sites is weekly they will list the sales the grocery stores are having and then tell you where to find coupons to make the items free or really cheap. Cents'Able Shoppin! (one of my favorite sites) does this on her site. This is an example for Fry's. Last week during the Mega Event at Fry's I tried it out for the first time. I got all of this-

for $7.87!

Here's what I spent on each item after the sale price and coupons were deducted.

Suave Deodorant FREE

Lady Speed Stick FREE

Right Guard Deodorant .50 x 2

Aquafresh Kids Toothpaste FREE x 3

Crest Toothpaste FREE x 5

Palmolive Dish Soap .49 x 3

Colgate Wisp .50

Spaghettios FREE x 4

Dannon Yogurt .49 x 2

Quakes FREE x 6

Taco Seasoning .19

Granola Bars $1.27 x 2

Foil Pans (for freezer meals) .50 x 2

I saved $82.22 which is a total savings of 83%! And I had to get rain checks for a couple items they didn't have so I'm going back for 3 FREE Softsoap Hand Soap, 2 FREE Oral B Toothbrushes, and 1 Loreal Kids Shampoo for .50. I'm lovin' these deals!

Summer fun

We decided it was time to bust out the swimming pool and slip-n-slide. After all, it is 150 degrees outside!

Natalee loved the pool. She just sat there and looked all around.

And rode on the "dolphin".

Haylee wasn't too sure about the slip-n-slide at first, but after Daddy showed her how to do it.....

then she decided it wasn't too bad.

She never got the concept of running and sliding but she did her own thing...

and had fun. Probably not as much fun as Daddy though!

Hokey Pokey

I mentioned in my last post about Natalee doing the hokey pokey in the middle of the night. Well I got pictures this morning to prove it!

This is how she starts out.

Then, she takes her left arm out, she takes her right arm out, and she wiggles her swaddle down. She does the hokey pokey and she turns herself around....

3 months old

My sweet little baby is 3 months old! I just can't believe how big she's getting. She is such a good little baby and very laid back. I love how she'll swing or sit in her bouncer and be happy just looking at the toys. Just recently she has become very interested in all of her toys.

At 3 months old she weighs about 14lbs. 8 oz. She goes to the doctor again at 4 months to find out the "official" weight.


Things to remember-

*Wearing size 1 diapers.

*Wearing 0-3 month clothes.

*Sleeping great! She's in her crib, being swaddled, and has been sleeping 10-12 hours at night. During the day she'll take one 3 hour nap (usually in the morning) and then the rest of her naps are around 40 minutes. Just in the past couples days she has started staying awake longer between naps. She can last a little over 2 hours now. I rock her for a couple minutes but I put her to bed awake and sometimes she'll cry a little, but mostly she'll go right to sleep. As soon as I put her in her crib she spits out her binkie. She's not a big binkie fan but she'll take it to calm down and sometimes go to sleep.

*She does the hokey pokey at night. For the past few mornings I have went in her room and she has turned herself the whole way around and her head is at the opposite end the crib. She also has both arms out of her swaddle and the swaddle is around her waist. She thinks it's funny and has a huge smile on her face

*Nurses great still and we also supplement with formula when she's still hungry (milk supply is low). When I give her just a bottle she'll usually drink 4 oz.

*She's a very happy baby. She always smiles and "talks" a lot. She's even laughed out loud a couple times. (Of course I couldn't get any smiles today while trying to take her picture)

*She still has big, blue eyes which I hope do not change.

*She is lifting her head up great when I put her on her tummy. She has always had a lot of strength lifting her head and she has strong little legs too. She loves to stand.

*She loves to watch Haylee. She just wishes Haylee was a little more quiet and gentle with her. Haylee seems to be getting worse. 

*Loves to chew her hands.

*Received her baby blessing 7/18 from Papa.

Both girls at 3 months. Natalee on the left, Haylee on the right. I don't think they look alike. Check out Haylee's hair! lol

Blessed

Natalee received her baby blessing on Sunday. She looked absolutely beautiful.

We had it at our home with just a few family members and friends.

Natalee was angel.

She layed quietly listening to her Papa as he gave her a blessing. I even heard her "talk" to him too.

What a beautiful blessing it was.

We love our little girl so much.

Later in the day Haylee asked where sister's "wedding dress" went. I had to laugh.

Crazy Hat Baby

I love to play dress up with my little girls. I can't help myself.

I just laughed hysterical at these hats.

I have a little goofball.

What a monkey!

My Girls

What do you do when it's 116 degrees outside and humid as heck? Definitely stay inside! Poor Haylee girl was outside with Josh for maybe 10 minutes and when she came in her cheeks were red and she was all sweaty.

Lately, Natalee has been very interested in her toys. She likes her swing now and will just stare at the little animals that go around and around.

She also likes the mobile in her crib, and the toy bar on her car seat. And it's funny to watch her try to hit the swinging animals dangling from her bouncer. She looks so serious. She loves to suck on her hands a lot too.

I thought it meant she was hungry, but when I try to feed her she's not interested. She just likes her hands. And she noticed the TV the other night. She was very tuned into the Bachelorette. She is such a sweet baby!

Dave & Buster's

We went to Dave & Buster's for the first time last weekend. What a fun place. Haylee played a ton of different games.

Her favorite one is where you drop a coin in, it falls to another platform before being pushed off, which then makes a whole bunch of other coins fall and you win a lot of tickets! Josh likes to play basketball,

and I played this jump rope game but I think it was broke because I barely had to jump fast at all and it said I won and started spitting out tickets. I won like 400 tickets or something like that. This little girl next to me was jumping super fast and she lost, so I have no clue how I won.

Natalee enjoyed looking all around and staring at the dinosaur Daddy won her from the crane game.

The best part is I signed up under their rewards program so I won $10 in free play. We had a lot of fun and barely spent any money.

Pickett Boys

Last weekend we went over to Danny & Beka's house for a little gathering. Haylee had fun playing with Braden & Landon...

and Natalee played sat next to Owen on the couch.

Owen must have liked Natalee because he held her hand.

Haylee and the twins are only 5 months apart, and Natalee and Owen are 3 months apart. It's fun to see how they all interact.

Bear Bear

This is Bear Bear.

He is Haylee's Best Friend.


This was a conversation we had the other day-

Haylee- "he (bear bear) just came outta my belly. See (lifting up her shirt) I don't have a fat belly anymore."
Me- "oh really?"
Haylee- "he drinks boobie milk too."

Last night she told me that even though bear bear likes boobie milk, "he also drinks apple juice. But he likes boobie milk better. Apple juice makes him throw up."

I had no idea!

Bear Bear was given to Haylee by her Grandma (Patti) when she was born. When she was little I would put him against Haylee's chest and wrap her arms around him. I thought it'd be cute if she had a little lovey as a security type thing. What was I thinking? It seems as she gets older, it gets worse. She use to just want to sleep with him, and that was it. Now, she wants to take him wherever we go and when she's tired (or in trouble) she always whines for bear bear. God forbid we ever loose him. Long ago I tried to find a replacement one just in case but they were no where to be found.

It cracks me up to see Haylee copy what I do with Natalee to bear bear. She never tries to mother Natalee though, only bear bear. Whenever I'm putting Natalee down and I want to make sure Haylee leaves the room and is quite I just tell her bear bear is crying and needs a nap too. Works every time!

Vegas

Who knew it took 9 1/2 hours to get to Vegas and 10 hours to get back home. We can know longer travel easily since we have 2 kids. We left on Saturday and the trip up wasn't too bad except for the dam traffic. We thought we'd miss it since we were going up on Saturday, but no such luck. Apparently the dam is so interesting and everyone has to drive 2 mph to check it out. The back up started 5 miles before the dam and took us 2 hours to get through it!

Then, there's Natalee. Poor girl couldn't take any good naps in the car, she kept waking up and crying because she was tired. Then she exploded, and there was poop the whole way up to her armpits. Haylee was good, she's always been an excellent traveler. She watches movies, reads books, yells for the cars in front of us to move faster, and sleeps.

Oh, and has to potty when there's no bathroom in sight.

(Thankfully we have our trusty little portable potty just for that reason)

By the time we got to our resort we were worn out so we just unpacked and went to bed. Jim and Kris (Josh's Dad and Step-Mom) met us at our resort to visit for a little while but Natalee was a very unhappy, tired, little girl.


Sunday morning (after waking up next to this sweet girl)....

we went to the Mirage to see the dolphins and the tigers. Haylee had fun, loved all the animals, and Natalee slept. (Natalee surprisingly took awesome 3 hour naps both days we were in Vegas. If only she could have done that while we were driving)

After the Mirage, we went back to the resort to take a nap and then we headed to Jim & Kris's to swim,

play with cousins,

eat ice cream cones,

play with sparklers,

and watch fireworks that Papa was lighting off.

Natalee also got to meet her Papa and she loved to smile and "talk" to him.

We had a wonderful time and always enjoy spending time with the family.


Monday we started the day at Circus Circus, a family favorite. Haylee loves to play all the games and win animals.

She also loves to ride all the fun rides.

Natalee...she likes to sleep through all the excitement!

That night we went to dinner with the family again...

and then we hit the strip. M & M World, MGM Grand, and the ABC Store!

And Natalee played some slots!

The we called it a night since some of us were exhausted.

Tuesday morning we woke up, packed things up, laughed at Haylee's new head band,

and headed home. Sounds easy right? Not so much. Natalee exploded 2 more times (how come this child only poops in the car?), and cried most of the way home. She was getting so mad that she kept waking up and then she decided to boycott the bottle. In Wickenberg, I got the genius idea to swaddle her and put her in her car seat. She slept the whole way home.

Why didn't I think of that from the beginning?

Vegas was a blast. The drive, not so much. We enjoyed spending time with Josh's Dad and the family. We decided that next time we'll go for a week....and fly!