Happy New Years.

YAY.
(Insert sarcasm here.)

Last year, we went to a party at another med. students house and it was a lot of fun. JM is really sick (so sick that he didn't even go to work today) and of course we have Jenna now. I'm sure Jenna will be up wanting to celebrate later tonight anyway. So JM didn't go to work today, but he's supposed to be on call tomorrow. The sucky part is that it's a holiday so it's 24 hour call starting from 7 a.m. until the next morning @ 7 and since it's 24 hour holiday call no one would probably switch with him. I feel so bad for him. Oh, as he was doing his shot of Pepto earlier, I told him Cheers! :)

As for resolutions, last years was to have a baby. I think I can cross that one off my list. This year, I'm going to take a photo every day and post on my smugmug site. Most will be shot with the Nikon (as that is the whole purpose of trying to get better) but some will also be with the point and shoot if we're out or whatever. I will definitely take one a day, and hopefully they will get posted on the same day, but if not, at least I took one. I WILL accomplish this (just like I did this years...Ha!)

And lastly, everyone knows this year was a bit of a roller coaster for me. I will not go into any more details about the ups and downs, but in a way, I'm sort of sad to see it go. Certain things happened in 2007 that I'll never get back. However, at the same time, I'm excited about seeing Jenna grow in 2008. I'm also excited about moving - which, can you believe that in a couple more months we'll be packing and looking for somewhere else to live? Half of our year here is over and that seems crazy to me! Anyway, I'm excited to see what 08 has in store for us.

My baby pic

So, what do you think? Does Jenna look like me? I've always thought she looked more like JM until I saw this pic. :)

Love this!

I found this quote on Ali E's page.

This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good.

Love this!

Ebay!

In case you didn't know, I also love selling junk on ebay. :)

I recently sold this Carter's baby blanket for $20. (Actually, I really think I could have gotten more for it too, but I'll take the 20 anyday.)

This blanket came from a thrift store and it was used - It was not one of Jenna's. But, seriously people - save your baby's blankets, loveys, rattles,clothes etc... People often look for a specific one (like this one) and are willing to pay big bucks for them to replace their child's old favorite lost one. (I, however, think I would probably just have to let Jenna deal with losing it. Mean, I know...)

Anyway, just thought I'd post since we were on the topic of coupons - ebay can also help as well! Have any questions - just ask! :)

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ETA: Someone just made me feel like a bad mommy, even if that's not how it was meant to be. So, here is my question to everyone: How much would you be willing to pay if your child lost their favorite lovey? Would you even replace it? Has your child lost something like this and been completely distraught over it?

Just wondering.... Leave me a comment and let me know. :)

JM's new love

First off, Please excuse the messy table - we are still unpacking from our Christmas trip.

If you know John Michael well enough, you would probably know that he has always had a love for computers. (At one point, his major was even computer - comp. science?) Anyway, before we moved here, he got the Macbook Pro which he fell in love with. Since then, all I've heard about is Apples and how he wanted to evenutally just go all Apple. So he got this one now and I think he loves it more than he loves me.

Now, we only need one more computer in this house, and everyone including Jenna and the dogs can have their own. :)

Also, how badly ironic is it that an Apple store opened up in Tulsa right after we moved? :(

Coupons on Oprah

Yes, I know - 3 posts in one day! It's a record....

Anyway, I find it a bit ironic that I just watched Oprah (I record it) and she had a lady on talking about clipping coupons and after I just talked to Sarah about this and posted about her blog!

Anyway, this lady was talking about her store doubles coupons (no doubles here) and she started a food bank by all of the food she was getting from the coupons. She said one time that her total before coupons was $187 and she paid $3 after coupons. (YES, you can do that too!)

I also found it interesting that less than 1% of all coupons are actually used.

Here is her story:
http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200704/20070403/slide_20070403_284_109.jhtml?promocode=HP14

So, I'm telling everyone that you can do this too. You don't have to start a food bank or anything big and drastic, but you can save tons of money too. It's easy and no, it really doesn't take up too much time. If you want to be inspired further, go to www.hotcouponworld.com look up your stores in your area and check out the stockpile pics (although I do happen to think some of them are a bit overboard and should donate their stuff.)

So call me crazy or what have you - but yes, I'm obessed with couponing now too. I'd rather spend my money on the fun stuff. :)

Sarah

So one of my old scrapping friends from T-town started a blog. This is Sarah's blog -http://onefrugalchick.blogspot.com/

Sarah told me about Hot coupon world one day and that's how I've managed to find such great deals and that is where my love for CVS came from.

She is much, much better at it than I am so you'll have to check her out. :)

But, I did go to Target today and managed to get 1 Clean Team mitten, Huggies travel wipes, Huggies small package wipes and Huggies regular sized wipes all for a total of 17 cents (give or take some.) Can't beat that!

Jenna's 6 weeks!

Jenna's 6 week Jenna Bear picture time!

I can't believe she's 6 weeks already!

**She is more alert, starting to notice more and staring more intently on objects. She likes to watch JM's dot screensaver on his computer and I even put on a little bit of baby Einstein and she watched some of it too.
**She had her very first road trip to AR and did extremely well for being in the car ALL day.
**Sometimes when she starts crying now, I put her on top of the dryer and she loves it. And yes, I put a blanket or something soft on top and I stand there with her the whole time.
**I think she may have started to try to smile today - and a real smile, not gas. I tickled her cheek and told her to smile for the camera and I just wasn't fast enough with the camera to get it.

Also, Thanks to Stacy for the socks in the picture! We love them!

Had to get a photo!

All of a sudden I turned around and saw this - both doggies in Jenna's papasan chair. Before I got them out, I decided this was a definite photo op! Aren't they cute?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We are now back home from our trip to AR. We had to come back early because JM is on call tomorrow, but we had a really good trip. Super productive and lots of fun had by all! Jenna also had a wonderful 1st Christmas and we had a fun time sharing it with her as well. I can't wait until she gets bigger to unwrap her presents!

I love the first photo of us because it's just so us - very casual and laid back. Me in a ponytail at night, and JM with his hat and of course we included the doggies. The first photo is our tree here at our house and the next two are at JM's house.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Nanny

Happy Birthday Nanny.

I love you.
I miss you terribly.
I know you would have adored Jenna. :)

Yipppeee!!!

Jenna's going to have a new little cousin in July. It's exciting because she will have a little playmate her own age - Jenna will only be about about 8-9 months older! JM's oldest sister is pregnant with #2!

And we're off...

ETA: My mom got worried that the dogs weren't coming with us because I forgot to include them - so here ya go:

Leaving tomorrow to go back to AR with
1 husband
1 baby
1 mother in law
2 chihuahua's

and tons and tons of crap...

Not looking forward to the drive and all that, but Jenna will finally get to meet her grand-dude and that'll be all worth it. :)

Be back soon!

Jenna's 4 weeks!

Jenna's 4 week Jenna Bear picture! :)

I can't believe she is 4 weeks already! The time has really flown by. What's funny is that I was looking through my old blog posts last night and remembered the end of my pregnancy when I was still having trouble believing that we were actually going to have a baby and now I can't really remember what it's like before we had her. It almost seems as if she has always been with us. But, I truly believe what they say now, about how "they grow so fast..." I've already watched her trying to hold the bottle or the paci with her hand and have already thought she is trying to be older than she is! I'm trying to soak every minute of her being this little!

At 4 weeks, Jenna's personality hasn't changed much since the 2 week post. She is still a good, sweet, baby.

She has experienced a couple of new firsts so I will share those:

*First bottle (due to my being in the hospital)
*First real bath - seems to love baths, doesn't cry at all. Maybe she'll be a water baby like me. :)
*First real outings
*followed the rattle with her eyes and held on to the rattle by herself

And I don't know why the pictures of the previous post aren't showing up - I can try those again later.

Pictures!

Obviously, I can't really stay away from the computer. :)

Just a couple of pics that I wanted to share.

Be back tomorrow with Jenna's 4 week pic!

New layout

So excited now that I can change my layout!

But, is this one too hard to read? What do you think?

Christmas break!

Just a quick update - After my last surgery, JM's mom came to stay with us and will be here until the end of the week, and then we are all driving back to AR and will be there for a week. Therefore, I probably won't be on the computer much again until after Christmas. However, Jenna's 4 week Jenna bear picture is due on this Thursday so I would still like to hopefully keep that going so I'll try to post that and then be back after Christmas.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! It still doesn't seem at all like Christmas time around here, oh well..

And 3 weeks later...

Jenna is 3 weeks old today and has already had her first overnight stay away from me. :( And at exactly 3 weeks later, I landed myself back into the hospital. I had an appendicitus - went in yesterday about 5 and got home today after the surgery. John Michael has some very good friends here - one of the couples offered to keep Jenna overnight for us.

I'm glad to be back home and back with my Jenna. :) 2 big surgeries in one month is NOT fun.

Is it really Christmas time here?

This is exactly why it doesn't feel like Christmas time to me at all here. (Make sure you look at Friday.) Honestly, I wouldn't want to live here forever. I would feel like I'm depriving Jenna of seeing snow, or at this rate, getting to wear cute sweaters. :)

She is just too cute!

I know - this blog has turned into all about Jenna - but I can't resist. :)

I just put her in her crib for a little bit and I went to go check on her and I found her like this. Holding on to the paci. Smart girl. :)

Oh, and she much rather prefers the Soothie hospital kind but it's in the other room. :)

Jenna's 1st real outting yesterday

Jenna had her first real outting yesterday besides going to the dr.'s and just going for car rides. She absolutely loves car rides and the carseat doesn't seem to bother her one bit.

Anyway, I put on this cute Old Navy outfit on her. (I tried to show the Old Navy picture of it, so you could see the heart on it and a better view of what it looks like, but I don't think it's showing up) So, as I showed JM the outfit he said, she looked like a dr seuss character. He made up this funny little rhyme about it -

I will not wear this on a goat.

I do not want to wear this on a boat.

I will not wear this to Subway. (we went to Subway for lunch.)

I do not want to wear this anyday!

Later that night, we met a couple of the other residents' and their families and went to go watch the light show. (The lights look much much better in the picture that I googled than they really were.) And not to worry - Jenna was in my sling with a blanket on top of that and completely bundled up. Not that it was cold, but more in an effort to avoid contact with any other people. And speaking of cold, the high today is 82. Last night at the light show, it was in the upper 50's. I told JM that it's hard to believe that it's actually Christmas time here. It just doesn't seem right at all.