Well, I made it through another six weeks at school, and we're officially only 7 school days away from Spring Break. (...but who's counting) Work has been stressing me out a bit, so I'm really trying to work on my positivity! :) The students this year are pretty sweet and behavior is definitely manageable, but the level of apathy is a little overwhelming. Last week we had inservice, and the majority of the trainings had to do with motivation. There was a lot of useful information and resources, so I'm looking into it!
As well as stressing caring about work, it never seems to slow down on the home front...which is totally okay. I've just been amping up my level of caffeing intake! One thing we've discovered in the past weeks is SAMS online shopping. I LOVE it! One thing I definitely despise is going to the grocery store. We are either lugging two children around or one of us is going by ourselves. I am also terrible at it. I fill like I spend a fortune on a basket full of groceries and still don't have things we need. I seriously need a personal (grocery) shopper who will make my list and do my shopping for me! Anyway, SAMS now has an app that you can grocery shop with, and once the shopping cart is submitted and paid for, you can go to the store and pick it up....all ready and waiting for you. Fabulous. Saves us much time and energy! So, instead of keeping an ongoing shopping list on our refrigerator, we just immediately go to the app and add things to our shopping cart.
On top of our grocery discovery, the last weeks have been pretty eventful. After much deliberation and research, I decided it was time to cut my hair off. I just don't have the time or energy to deal with it anymore! I'm pretty pleased with the result, plus it was only $40 and I think I've found a new hair stylist! whoo hoo!
The bad thing about haircuts is that they're a little addicting to me...kind of like tattoos! Now that I've made the leap, it may be hard for me to stop!
Last weekend was a very busy one! Friday, after work I went to a Pampered Chef Party and mentally bought a million things. Unfortunately, the bank account wouldn't pay for my imaginary shopping list, so I bought a couple useful (cheaper) gadgets instead! On Saturday, we had Nate's birthday party in Lewisville. It was a beautiful day and full of fun. He had his party at a Speed Zone place with go-carts, putt-putt, and bounce houses. Grace had a blast with the bounce house, but that was pretty much all she was big enough to do! We also got to see baby Cora and the aunts & uncles, so that's always fun!
Plus...we got to pretend we were the HULK!
After Nate's party, we headed to Landon & Whitney's. Mom and Dad were in town for the night, so we went over to grill and visit. Grace had a good ole time. They have a big jungle gym thing in their backyard that Grace loves. She wore poor Loli out! They also had some brand new kittens that Grace loved! She kept saying, "Awww, the babies!" *precious* They were about the size of the palm of my hand. Too bad they grow up to be cats. ;)
Today is a super exciting day too...Landon & Whitney were supposed to find out the sex of their baby, but the little thing was enjoying having its legs crossed too much! Oh, well--maybe next time! BUT..everything is looking great and its got the cutest little alien head I've ever seen! :)
Clark had his 4 month appointment this week, and all went well! He is now 25" (50th percentile) and 17.5 lbs. (90th percentile). The appointment was at 3, so Mike had to take him--which I'm fine with since he had to get shots. It was annoying because they had all the shots he needed but one, so we'll have to take him back this week to get another shot. Poor baby. He seems pretty unphased by them, though. So, that's good. At the doctor, he informed us that 4 months is the time where he should be able to sleep through the night and no longer NEEDS to get up and eat. He had been doing much better with his sleep up until that point. He was only getting up once a night to eat, so we decided it was time to phase the nightime feeding out. The first couple nights, he woke up like usual around 2/3, and we were just going to let him cry for a bit. He only cried for about 10-15 minutes and he was out. There was one night where he cried for a little longer and seemed to be getting more upset, so I went in there and turned on his white noise and soothed him a little bit. Worked like a charm. After about 4 nights of him getting up, we have now had two nights in a row where he has slept all night!! I give him his last bottle between 7:30-8 and put him to bed no problem, and the last two days I have gone in and woken him up at 6:30. So awesome. Hope he's not just toying with us! Also, he has now officially turned over from his back to his tummy! Milestone #1- yay!
UPDATE
So, my identity theft problem has worked out quite nicely (so far). Almost three weeks ago, I mailed all my paper work into Conn's to start the process of investigating my fraudulent accounts. I had to fill out a 6 page affidavit and mail it with a copy of my driver's license & social security card and a copy of the police report. After getting it notarized...on top of that. Well, I've been calling everyday just to confirm that it has been received and is being processed--and they finally called me back TODAY! I spoke with a guy in the fraud department who said they received my paper work about two weeks ago and a filing was done on Feb. 20 to charge off the two fraudulent accounts. whoo hoo! He said at this point, I am completely clear of any money owed. The only thing left to do is to wait for a confirmation letter in the mail (in 30-45 days), and after that I am going to check my credit to make sure there are no other accounts or charges from late payments! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
While my credit was being tarnished by an unpaid $10,000 installment loan, Mike and I began our 9 week journey to "Financial Peace"! Our church is offering a 9 week presentation of the Dave Ramsey program, and our first session was on Sunday. We have been doing a version of the program for about two years now--cash envelopes and snowball debt payoff--, but it's good to get remotivated and reorganized with our budget. We have a big (expensive) trip to Alaska planned for the summer, so we'll definitely need to work that into the budget! Another reason I like actually doing the program is that we meet with a small group afterwards (that also includes a financial planner), and Mike and I are figuring out that we are actually in a really good position (debt wise) compared to a lot of other people. Lowers the stress level a bit!
ON ANOTHER NOTE
I am SO sick of this cold-hot-cold-hot weather! Everyone in my house is remaining sick--we cannot keep enough tissues! Last weekend, however, was beautiful! I always like it when it's nice outside because we like to take the dogs out and the kids can get some fresh air. Grace likes to play in the field and play fetch with Daisy!
GRACE UPDATES
She really is becoming so hilarious. The other day she was walking through the living room and stumped her toe. She yelled, "Ouchie! Mi roast beef!" Also, she has some minor OCD with her blankets. She has two blankets that she sleeps with and she is a littly psycho about them. They have to be laid a certain way all the time, and when we cover her, we better use the correct side of the blanket or we are in for it! We are still maintaining our love of The Little Mermaid, and it pretty much plays on repeat. Her progress in gymnastics is going really well, also. We have officially gotten to a point where she almost never has a breakdown and loves to learn new tricks. She was being silly and playing hide and seek last week. (Was pretty tough to find her!)
The kiddos still love bath time, and they are growing like weeds! <3 Poor Clark has a pink bathtub because we are too cheap to buy another one. Oh well. #firstworldproblems
Seriously, what did we do before kids?? Have a great week!
