Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, and a 9 month check up!

Eric and the boys with their Valentine cookie cake

Caden, John Collier, and Morgan at the Krewe of Gemini Parade

Not sure what Eric and I are doing here...or why neither of us is looking at the camera!

Mama and Sweet Caroline at her 9 month check up today. She weighs 16 pounds and 5 ounces and is 28 inches long! She is still in the 25th percentile for weight and the 75th for length.

Somebody loves being naked!

Caden loves Caroline and wants to hold her all the time!

John Collier loves her too!

I want that camera, Mama! :)

Sweet Caroline at 9 months old:

*You will clap when someone says, "Yay!"

*You are still on the same eating schedule as at 8 months.

*You will start getting 8 ounces in your 2 bottles each day beginning tomorrow. We just want to make sure you are getting enough milk since that is your main source of nutrition!

*You will definitely let us know when you don't like something or want something RIGHT NOW. Your latest thing is pitching a fit when Daddy won't let you have the remote! (Get used to it, sister!) You do this because PawPaw lets you play with one during the day at MeMaw's house!

*You are fascinated with my cell phone, your timer, the tv remote, basically anything REAL. You do like your toys, but you'd rather have the things you aren't supposed to!

*You LOVE your puffs and yogurt melts. Thank you, Gerber! You got some for Valentine's Day from us and Memaw and Papaw.

* You have been doing this huge "cheese" grin (see naked pic above)...it is hilarious! Nan says you smile so big your ears touch in the back. :)

*You have started patting my shoulder when I get you up in the mornings...so sweet! I guess it's because I pat your back when you are snuggling with me when I first get you out of your crib. I hope you will always like to snuggle with me!

* You are our sweet baby girl...and always will be. 

I love you~Mama

Snow day!

This is the only pic of all 3 little Wibbens from this morning! Caroline went down for a nap right after this. Good timing...her brothers got CRAZY in some snow!

John Collier's first ever snow angel

Caden's snow angel

The beginnings of our snowman

Love this pic of my middle child! :)

Working on the snowman

The spray painted snowman~ the boys had bottles filled with colored water. They had more fun with the colored water and throwing snowballs than they did buliding the snowman that they eventually tackled...

Poor snowman!

Today was the first time my children have seen measurable snow in their lives! We set out bowls last night to collect clean snow, which we mixed with vanilla, sugar, milk, and instant vanilla pudding mix and made snow ice cream. They wore their coveralls and rain boots and made snow angels & a snowman (of sorts), threw snowballs at me and each other, and spray painted the snow! They have had a ball this morning! We came inside to thaw out and eat our ice cream and drink hot chocolate...gotta love a snow day!

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!