Eight months!

Sweet Caroline turned 8 months old today! To celebrate, she had her first experience with baby food meat...chicken! She loved it! She has never been very fussy about food though. Right now she nurses first thing in the morning. Then she has rice cereal and a bottle (or nurses, if we're both home) around 9:30. Lunch is a veggie and another bottle around 1:30. She rotates through squash (a fave), sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, and carrots. Supper is about 5:30 and consists of nursing and a fruit...and now a meat! She eats all these fruits: bananas (favorite!), applesauce, peaches, and pears. Today, the boys and I bought her "puffs." We'll try the sweet potato and banana versions first. I am sure she will like those, too! What is she up to at 8 months?

~Sitting alone temporarily

~ Sleeping 10 to 12 hours each night

~Taking a morning and an afternoon nap

~Smiling ALL the time!

~Vocalizing a lot...dadada and buhbuhbuh are commonly heard

~ Also says "hot-uh"...it's hilarious!

~Blowing out her cheeks and spits-see pic on another post about that!

~Watching everything her big brothers do...she thinks they are hilarious!

~Dancing when JC or Caden play the drums...loves a drumline like her Mama!

~Making beginning crawling efforts...kicking those legs in unison and bobbing that head

~Giving sugar...loves it when we say "Aw-wee!" afterward

~Is ticklish

~Backing away from Daddy when he tries to kiss her if he's dirty from work

~Being an incredibly sweet blessing to all who know her! We are so blessed God chose us to be her family...even her big brothers agree!

John Collier and Caden had to have a picture today, too! Except they couldn't tear their eyes away from the Wii game they were playing. Just like their Daddy... :)

A penny saved is a penny earned

Okay, let me begin by explaining that I have never been a coupon shopper. I've never clipped coupons regularly. I've never spent too much time scouting out the very best deals on grocery items. But then I ran across a fellow blogger's post (click here) about how she saved serious $, so I thought I'd give it a try. I am so glad I did! I purchased all of the items below at Walgreens, which I never used to shop at for much other than photo processing or medicine...but not anymore! Between the Register Rewards items and some really good deals, I spent $54 and saved $44, but let me explain...

It started with the NyQuil. It was on sale for $5 each. Spend $20, get $10 in Register Rewards. Done! Then the Pepsi products...the 12-packs (I got 5 but you can't see them all) were 5/$15 and the chips were $2 each...spend another $20 between the chips and drinks, get $10 in RR.  So that was the first purchase. Total spent=$43 plus $20 in RR.

The 2nd purchase was the Red Baron pizzas, on sale 2/$5 and I had a $1 coupon. They are regualrly $4.99 each, but I got 2/$4! The General Mills cereals were 2/$5, so I stocked up on my fave, Cheerios and Eric's/the boys' fave, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The cups were $5, also. After I used $10 in RR toward this purchase, I paid $11 total! And I still have another $10 in RR, which I think I will use on 2 packs of diapers (2/$20 plus $2 in RR -$10 in RR= 2/$10 with $2 in RR left over!)! Whew!

7 years old!

Today our baby boy turned 7! Eric and I cannot believe it's been SEVEN years since our first child was born. John Collier is a precious child, and we are so grateful for the opportunity to be his parents. Here's a look back at his first 7 years.

Two years old

Gulf Shores 2005~First beach trip

Hospialized with Rotovirus~February 2006~3 years old

4 years old~Playing with birthday trains

Almost 5 years old~Keatchie

Sixth birthday at Chuck E. Cheese~throwing his "sign"

Oldest of three!

Valentine's Card Preview

This is NOT our Valentine's card, but it is a pretty good representation of how the whole photo session went! The boys were trying really hard to smile even though Caroline was making her "spitting" face and flailing about...gotta love it! :)

Sweet Caroline turns 7 months!

Our baby girl is SEVEN months old today! We celebrated with a trip to Portrait Innovations-they are simply the best in quick, cheap pics. You go in, they snap pics, you choose the ones you want, and they print them in 20 minutes! Nothing like it! Enjoy these pictures of the little girl who brightens the lives of everyone she come in contact with.

Modeling the dress she wore to Laura and Marcus' wedding~courtesy of Mimi!

Sweet smile

Yay for me!

In her blue Christmas dress theat Nan made just for her, with pearl snowflakes on the collar!

I think this might be my favorite one!

Happy New Year!

Baby blues

She has started making this face when she wants something...NOW!

The pucker

Flying!

Caden loves playing at Nan and Grandad's

Roasting hot dogs with Grandad in the fire pit their Daddy built

John Collier has been truly obsessed with trains since his 2nd birthday

Sweet Caroline turns 6 months!

Well, our baby girl turned 6 months old today...it's so hard for me to believe! In another 6 months, she'll be a year old...time really does fly! Here are some pics of the past 6 months. Happy Half-Birthday, Sweet Caroline!

With Laura at her dedication in September
Drinking her first bottle in August~Daddy fed her! :)

Meeting Mama~June 2, 2009

Precious profile~June 2009

Meeting Daddy~June 2, 2009

The boys will tell you they don't remember what it was like before we had Caroline. She has completed our family and is a complete joy! She is such a sweet, happy, content baby with the best smile around...I realize I'm a little partial. :)