On The Go!

This video was taken about 3 weeks ago. She has gotten the army crawl down now. She has even been trying to get her knees under her. Last weekend, she had her belly all the way off the ground.

I'm going to have to change the way I do things now in the mornings. If I'm not ready for work by the time the girls wake up, Brinley usually watches Curious George and I sit Brooklyn on the floor of our bedroom with a toy where I can see her through the bathroom mirror. I do this out of fear that Brooklyn will get sat on, drug acrossed the floor, or picked up by her big sister. So I keep her where I can see her. This morning I was blow drying my hair while Brooklyn was sitting on the floor. I heard her kinda fussing, so I looked in the mirror toward the floor. It caught me off gaurd when I didn't see her. I poked my head around the corner and she was halfway out of the room!

This is what I saw when I walked into Brooklyn's room this morning. So cute!

Bye Bye Paci

A couple weeks ago, we told Brinley when she was ready to trade in her paci for a toy to let us know and we would get her a toy of her choice. A few days ago right before bedtime, she said she didn't want her paci and was ready to trade it in. Then proceeded to get her paci and go to bed. The next day, we thought we would remind her about trading them in to see if she was really ready. After naming off a few toys she could get, she started to get excited about it. So Saturday, we took a trip to the store.

Ready to go to the store with her paci's.

She picked out a My Little Pony

She had no problem handing her paci's over to the cashier. But before we even got to the doors, she asked for them. I told her that they were with the cashier. If she wanted her paci's back, she would have to give her toy back. At this point I was preparing what I would say to the cashier. As if Brinley handing him a baggie of paci's wasn't awkard enough. Thankfully, she didn't want to give her toy up.

Giving Pinkie Pie a hug.

At bedtime she asked for her paci (that was the only time she got it). We told her it was at the store. She went to bed with her new toy and fell asleep fairly quickly. But about an hour later, she woke up screaming and kicking. I think it was because of her cold (she did this one other time when she had a cold). But she started yelling, "I don't want my little pony in my house." So I started to walk out of her room with it. Then she sobbs "I want my little pony!" I think she had a love/hate relationship for awhile. She still goes to the drawer where her paci's were kept, but she really hasn't gotten that upset about not having them.

I was kind of sad to see her paci's go. They were part of the bedtime routine. All we would have to say was "Are you ready to get your paci?"

She would run to get it and she knew it was time to get ready for bed. If she wasn't obeying while getting ready she would lose it. Now we have to figure out a new consequence that is going to be just as effective as her paci.

Couponing Again

The server at work is down so I decided to go to the store again before the cereal sale ended. We are now set on cereal for several weeks. I bought all of this for only $3.42.

This is how I did it.

Cereal was on sale 5 boxes for $12 (or $2.40 a box). If you bought 5 boxes, you got $5 off making it 5 boxes for $7. I had a coupon for 0.70 off one box (fruit loops), $1.50 off 2 boxes of frosted mini wheats, and $1 coupon off 2 boxes frosted mini wheats. This coupon doubled making it $2 off. Final price-5 boxes for $2.80.

Bottle water was $1.29 for a pack of 6 bottles. I had a coupon for $1 off 2 Nestle water packs. This coupon doubled making the final price $.58 for 2 six packs of water.

Freschetta Pizza was on sale for $5.99. I had a coupon for $1 off. The coupon double making the final price $3.99.

Cream of Chicken soup was on sale for $1 each. I had a coupon for $1 off 2 cans. This coupon double making it FREE!

I got the milk for FREE! I had a catalina from last time I bought cereal for free milk. I got 2 more after buying more cereal today!

I also got the bananas for $.01. I had a coupon for free produce up to $1 when I bought a box of Kellogg's cereal.

My total before the gum and any coupons was 24.10. I had a coupon for $5 off a purchase of $25 or more. So I grabbed the gum which was on sale for $1.

And that is how I paid $3.42 for all of this. A total savings of 94%. And I get to go get free milk again!

Couponing!

I love couponing! Or should I say, I love saving money by couponing! If I only saved a few bucks here and there, I would never do it. However, I am learning how to cut down on our grocery bill quite a bit by couponing. I just bought a Freshcetta pizza, 5 boxes of cereal, 2 boxes of toaster strudels, Rhodes warm and serve dinner rolls, Philadelphia cream cheese, Cookies and Cream candy bar, a Lunchable, and Glade air freshener (air freshener and lunchable are not in the picture because I gave it to my sister). I only spent $6.25!!!!!!!! On top of that, at the register I got 2 printouts for 2 free gallons of milk! Any brand I want!

I don't know why this picture is turned sideways.

Alex likes the couponing too. He says that there is more food in the house then there ever has been. And I buy things that I normally would not buy because of the price. There is still room for improvement, but tonight has been one of my biggest savings yet.

Wherever I Go

Music and lyrics by Brinley Awtry

Let's Try This Again

I know I have probably said this before but I'll say it again. I'm going to try to start posting once a week. Mainly because I am not doing a very good job writing things down about the girls such as milestones and fun things they do. So I am going to attempt this once again. And I'll start right now with a post about Brooklyn. I wanted to do this in my last post but ran out of time.

1 Month

8 pounds 6 ounces

Brooklyn has been a great baby since the beginning. In her first month, she gained 2 1/2 pounds. By this time, she was sleeping 6-7 hours during the night. I would try to wake her up around 4 to 5 hours but was unsuccessful. The doc said since she was gaining weight really good to go ahead and let her sleep.

2 Months

10 pounds 2 ounces

During this month, Brooklyn started smiling. The first time I really noticed that she was smiling was December 6th. We were sitting in bible class. Brooklyn was laying in my lap with her pacifier in her mouth. When I looked down at her, she was looking at Alex with a big enough smile to see it past her pacifier.

3 Months

Around this time, Brooklyn started cooing, laughing and holding her head up. I love listening to her talk.

4 Months

12 1/2 pounds

Brooklyn had been been flipping over from her belly to her back randomly. Sometimes she would do it 3 or 4 times a night then not roll over again for a few days. On February 13, she started rolling from her back to her belly! From this day on she rarely stayed on her back.

On February 19, Brooklyn was able to sit up a little on her own.

I have been on maternity for 2 weeks now and love being home with my 2 girls. Brooklyn is a great baby. She is an excellant sleeper and is getting bigger everyday. She had another doctor's appointment today and weighs 7 lbs 2 oz. She has gained 1 lb 4 oz since she was born just 17 days ago. It is great that she is gaining weight so good, but part of me wants her to slow down so she stays small just a little bit longer.

Alex was able to take a week off and we all enjoyed every minute of it.

Frozen yogart at Splash.

Checking on her baby sister.

Brinley wanted to put a bow on Brooklyn and decided to wear one too. Maybe this is the start of her wanting to wear bows.

Brinley was Tinker Bell for Halloween. She went to Haunt the Zoo with one of her friends and had a blast.

We took her Trick or Treating at the OC dorms with her cousins.

Briley and Brinley getting ready for a tea party

Reading to her baby sister.

She helped Brooklyn push the buttons on the book. Then she would get all excited and say "You did it Brooklyn!"