On a More Serious Note

A sweet, dear friend of mine, her husband and their pets have been evacuated from their house - due to all the heavy rains we had earlier this week. Their neighborhood was plagued with really bad flooding and they're now just waiting for the water to go down. As of yesterday their house was under about a foot and a half of water and they've been using a canoe to get around their house to remove whatever items they can.

The photo I've posted is not their house - but a neighbor's house. I didn't ask for permission to post on here, so I don't want to show anyone what their house looks like. Just know it looks very similar to the photo I've posted.

It's easy to sit over in my clean, dry house (not even a mile away) and feel bad for them - I just don't know what to say. Especially since they're expecting a baby in the next few months.

Anyway, I do hope there is some way we can all reach out to them. I just don't know how yet. Just please keep them in your prayers!

Here's an article from the Independent Tribune about the floods. Apparently Harrisburg was hit the worst from the rains.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Adventures

This past Saturday night, Donnie and I headed out to the Panthers / Redskins game with some very nice tickets that were given to us. Thanks Fred! We got to sit in the club level, so that was pretty cool. I never knew that sushi and gourmet chocolates were even allowed at football games. Anyway, besides the Redskins getting their hineys kicked, we had a really nice time. However, what's a night out without a little drama, right?

> Rather than paying a lot of money for a Redskins shirt (that I really can't proudly wear since I know nothing about them, except that my husband is a fan) I decided to make my own! So, I designed this really cool graphic and got an on-sale shirt at Michaels and headed home to iron-on my night's attire. Well, the second I set the iron down I realized I hadn't mirrored the image (see above) so my shirt was backwards. It looked great in the mirror, though.

> Then after the first quarter, or so, we quickly realized the Redskins were going to get trampled. Well, we were definitely a minority sitting there in our little Redskins shirts and hats - but there were a few other Skins fans there. One, in particular got a little offended when a nearby Panthers fan decided to ridicule his team of choice. And, a fight broke out about 5 rows ahead of us. Pretty cool. They were all escorted out, so it didn't last that long. Oh well.

> So, after creeping out after the frisbee-catching dogs at halftime, we headed home. While sitting at the stoplight at Hwy. 29 & Morehead, we were lucky enough to witness an accident. Some "older" guy ran his red light and a "younger" girl smashed into him. I guess she didn't see him. I have no idea how, because I stopped in time to not hit him. See, I was in the left-left turn lane and she was in the left-right turn lane...and just kept going when Old Man Winter decided to not stop. So, at about 10:15pm we were stuck in the intersection waiting to give our eye-witness report to the police. Great fun.

Then we got home - to find Mimi and Papa resting easy as our sweet one slept upstairs. All-in-all, a fun night - with a little non-drama, drama. I love you, Donnie. It was nice to get out, just the 2 of us, for a change.

Go Redskins!

My First Addiction...

...well, if you don't count Chapstick!

See, Michael Dean got a nasty cold last week and was pitiful for only a few days. But, he was sweet enough to pass it along to BOTH Donnie and me. We were both sick by Thursday of last week. Donnie's was more of a sore throat, sinus thing - where mine seemed to just be your standard cold.

So, Donnie headed out to the store Sunday for supplies (medicine, non-saline nasal spray, Puffs Plus, and 3 family-size pastries - for "comfort food"). He came home and immediately used the nasal spray and said it worked great. So, that night - being desperate for a good night's sleep - I tried his nasal spray. Oh my gosh, it worked immediately and I could breathe again, for the first time in about 4 days. I thought, "Wow, this is my ticket out of this nasty mess." I had a great night's sleep and woke up only once to refill my stuffed-up nose and head back to a great night's sleep again.

I kept up with the spray Monday because it just worked so dang good. We had some friends over for dinner Monday night and I could barely eat because I couldn't breathe. I kept running to the bathroom and blowing my nose as hard as I could (making me not hear, of course) - so I could breathe.

While trying my best to hold a conversation with BOTH sides of my nose completely stopped (that's really hard to do!) - we got on the topic of nasal spray and how it's addictive. Brandon, one of our dinner guests, said he had gotten addicted to nasal spray before and could only breathe well WHEN he used it. Ugh!! Could it be? After only 2 days, was I addicted??

Who knows... All I know is that I've not used that spray in a day and I am really struggling to breathe. I'm shooting saline spray like it's water, in hopes it will help some. I guess I'm just going through withdrawls and I have to push my way through this :)

So, beware of nasal spray - I think.

Worldless Thursday

(So, I missed Wordless Wednesday. I had it all planned and everything. Oh well...)

My Little Monkey

Just a few photos I wanted to show off, I mean share :)

Also, it's official. MD's a walker now. He started late last week getting a little more confident with letting go of whatever was holding him up. Now, he's on the go - and don't try to stop him! He's still pretty shaky, but he's getting better by the hour. Our hardwood floors petrify me, but so far so good. A few spills, but nothing a little walk outside didn't cure.

Loving the new, big boy bath towels (we've got a duck and penguin, too)

On the move

A quick break

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

So, I've become a bit obsessed with finding (and using) coupons. I've always been a big fan of coupons, I've just not spent much time looking for them. Well, since I now have a baby and it seems like I have a new must-get-list every day, I set out on coupon-hunting missions often...

...And today, a few of my missions paid off! You all know I take like 298 pictures of my kid daily, but I rarely print them. So, when I do decide to update MD's huge photo box, I end up with like 100+ photos to print (roughly $20). And since I work very close to a Super Target and they're Super Fast (even though I loathe Target for their awful return policy) - I love, love, love their 1-hour photo lab. Well, at least the one at Steele Creek.

After choosing all my printable photos from the past 3 months I totalled my photo bill at $20.46. I did the rest of my shopping (with other coupons in hand, of course) and came back to get my prints. Now, I was armed with two "$5-off a $10 photo purchase" coupons - not knowing if they'd take them both. But they did!! AND the nice photo lady also gave me a $2-off coupon from behind the counter. So, my $20.46 photo bill turned into $8.46 - just $0.09 a print (as opposed to $0.22 a print normally!)

Just wanted to share. Yippee for coupons :)

Anyone want to share where they find good coupons? I'd love to know (hint, hint)

Taking a Few Steps Back

With MD's birthday, and being sick, and Donnie being out of town - it seems like life has been flying by - especially on here! I've not updated you guys much with what's been going on with MD, and I want to. So, here ya go...

At his 12m check-up he weighed 24.2lbs and was 32.5in tall! Only 3.5 more inches to go and we've got a guaranteed 6-footer. But, really - should we be shocked by that?! The little guy's got a big head! I'm not sure of the exact measurements, but it was in the 95% for his age. I mean, for real - he got these really cute big-boy, animal bath towels for his birthday and I had to cut the corners of the head pocket so the ducky head would fit on his head! Crazy, really.

He's still not an official "walker", but he can get wherever he wants. He is pulling himself up on anything and will let go to walk, but gets to his destination as fast as possible. We've had a few, OK, a lot of spills. But, we just encourage him to pick himself up and shake it off. He does pretty well with that.

Baby food is gone!! Yippee!! Not that I didn't enjoy it during the time, I was just glad to move onto big people food. He'll pretty much eat what I'm eating so that's been real fun. He's been drinking whole milk for almost a month now. He gave up his formula pretty darn quick. I only did 50/50 formula/milk for a day or 2. Pretty cool!

Our little man is growing so quickly and is just so, so much fun! He now blows kisses (or really, spits at you), waves bye-bye, points at lights, plays with Mila, wants you to read books to him, feeds himself, I could go on...

OK, this is getting a little long - but it's going to get longer! Here's some pics from the last month or so...

MD's best impression of Grandma Betty

Garden hose fun

Mila gets a lick. MD gets a lick. Mila gets a lick. MD gets a lick. And so on.

Fire trucks at the 4th of July parade

Enjoying a parade treasure

"It's not easy being this cool"

Birthday present from his Uncle Matt & Aunt B

Loving the bubbles!