I'll be home for Christmas...

We head to Arkansas on Thursday and we will be there for 9 full (no-traveling) days...I am so giddy about this trip! It is our first time back after moving in April - that's over 9 months! I'm so excited to be with my family and see friends. I have grandparents that have not yet met their great-grandaughter and all of my family is so anxious to see Jed. (I know, I know Dad...You're excited to see me & Drew too!)

Kid Fun

Some fun (and some not so fun) things going on with the kids lately:

Jed's been saying "Ummmm..." a lot. When I realized it, I thought to my self...do we say "ummmm" that much? He's also been saying "Guys!". Well I figured out where these are coming from - Veggie Tales. Bob frequently says 'Ummm, Larry..." or "Hey Guys!". It makes me wonder how much more Veggie Tales he quotes but that we just don't realize.

Riley & Jed both have been sick lately. They are feeling better now. Riley just had a respiratory infection but Jed had croup. He had to take a steroid for three days & is still sleeping with a humidifier& on an incline. He really likes the incline...we might need to keep it.

Jed's learning more about kisses. For the longest time he would just lean in and touch his puckered lips to yours. No smooching sound. Well now he knows that kisses are supposed to make a noise. So, if you kiss him but make no noise, he will lean back in for another kiss and make the sound himself.

Jed weighs 35 lbs & Riley weighs 18 lbs. Riley is actually bigger than Jed was at this same age.

When Jed gets a hold of my phone, he wants to call Papa. I'll tell him that Papa is at work. So then he wants to call Nana. He will throw a fit sometimes if I say no. When his Nana heard this story - she, of course, said to call anyways.

Riley is starting to sit up lately. She's doing a pretty good job - an especially great job in the bathtub with her little bath seat.

When Riley is laying on the floor, Jed loves to straddle her and walk from her head to her feet. As we gets to the end he squeels because he thinks it is so fun.

Jed is VERY rough with Riley. He will make her into a tough little girl. He thinks that he can play with her the same way that his dad plays with him. It's amazing to see him do the exact same things to her that Drew does to him. It seems to me, that while I am the one who is at home with Jed all day long, Drew is the one he imitates most. I probably just don't notice the ways that he imitates me....

Jed is still pushing kids - although it used to be a gentle push...now, it's a full force shove!

So...We have added the 'disobedience chair' to our repitoire of discipline tools. Jed actually understands that he cannot get up until the timer goes off & that each stint in the chair ends with a hug and a kiss.

Buyer's Remorse

There are probably a large number of stores that hate me. Reason #1 - We leave trails of raisins everywhere we go - Jed wants to make sure we are able to find our way back home. Reason #2 - 2 screaming kids. Need I say more? Reason #3 - I always walk right to the back of the store, past the regular and 'sale' priced items - to the clearance racks. Reason #4 (and what this post is about) - I return stuff...and not just ocassionally...a lot. I will not remove tags from clothes until after I have put it on and intend to wear it that day. If, after a couple of weeks, I cannot bring myself to wear it, I will return it. Sometimes, I just make decisions too hastily because I don't have time to really think it thru - so when I get home I decide that I don't really like/want/need it. Or, if I find something I'd rather have for the same $15, I will return it. Living on such a tight budget forces me to really count the cost of the things that I buy - things don't just cost me money, they cost me what I cannot get with the same amount of money. This is actually just a basic rule of economics...not all that monumental. But definately a rule that I live very aware of.

One of my problems is that even after I have made my purchase, I continue to shop. I just can't help it. Either, I think I might find a better deal or product and I can return my original purchase, or I just want to make sure that I did good - validation of my purchase. Most of my purchases reflect the first. However, big, non-returnable purchases reflect the second - the problem is that this can cause 'buyer's remorse'. This happened with our car. I thought I wanted it, that it was a good deal, but after making the purchase, I realized that we probably could have done better.

So, knowing my tendency on this, I was quite afraid of buying a house. Big, BIG, non-returnable purchase...see where I'm going with this? New houses come on the market every day. To make matters worse, we had to jump on this house so quickly that we didn't have a lot of time to think it thru. Sounds like guaranteed recipe for buyer's remorse. And of course, even months after moving into our house, I still look thru the real estate ads in the paper. And you know what I've found? Not an ounce of buyer's remorse! Everything I see only confirms that God gave us an incredible house at an incredible deal...

I can only think of two other 'purchases' that I've been as pleased with - my new Gap Long & Lean jeans and my incredible husband. (Don't worry Drew, I haven't had to look outside our home to know what a great catch you are!)

So good to be with you old friend...

It has been such a long time since I was able to blog last!!! Moving really kinked things up and then we had no internet at home until Friday. So glad to be back - to be able to read other people's blogs as well. I felt so out of the loop! So now I'm getting back up to speed.

Of course, now that it's been so long since I blogged I don't even know what to write about.