Mini Vacay

Today was an unexpected vacation! Yesterday a pipe burst at Anthony's work and they told everyone that the office was unusable until Monday...so that means that Anthony would get to stay home with us!!! We stayed up late last night watching tv and slept in together this morning. It was so nice! James must have gotten the memo because he slept in too, until almost 9am!!

Since Anthony was home, I got the chance to mow the lawn in the morning while James and Anthony played with the aquarium together. When I got back inside after I finished it was so cute to see Anthony working away at the tank and James in his exersaucer playing happily next to him. Later in the afternoon Anthony got to hang out with an aquarium buddy and then tonight we got chinese food and visited a pet store that had large birds, iguanas, gerbils, hamsters, and puppies! James wasn't too impressed, but Anthony and I loved looking at the animals :)

I was getting so excited because tomorrow Anthony was going to go with us to our baby class at the library and then to the trunk and treat in the evening...then his work called to tell him that they are borrowing office space from another doctor so it is back to work tomorrow. Bummer! Hopefully he won't have to work as late as usual and can still go to the trunk and treat with us. Still, today was fun and was better than nothing. I guess it is back to our regularly scheduled programming for James and me :)

Pictures of my Pumpkin

Today we broke out the camera and to get some pictures of James in his new fall outfit:

Happy Halloween!!

Friday Confessional

I confess...
I had a small setback in my stay at home happiness last week. I found out from a friend that the girl that took over my job just got a bigger office and an assistant...which could have been me had we made different decisions...which made me feel like the world is passing me by and every one else is moving on to bigger and better things while I am stuck at home.

I confess...
Thanks to my awesome husband and friends I got over it pretty quickly. I know we made the right decision for me to stay at home, even though it doesn't feel like it at times. And it is okay for me not to feel all sunshine and gum drops about it all the time. That's life. I can't let the world's definition of success and value interfer with my own perception of my worth or the worth of the work I am doing now. So there! :)

I confess...
It helps that Halloween, my favorite holiday, is coming up soon! I love this time of year, fall festivals, pumpkins, costumes, and spooky music. I reserved a kids halloween music cd from the library and I can't wait for it to come in so James and I can dance around to halloween music.

I confess...
I tried my very first green smoothie yesterday and I am hooked! It tasted soooo good and I felt all so healthy while drinking it. I've decided to try to have one at least every other day and I am going to the produce stand later today to gather supplies. Deliciousness, here I come!

What are you confessing today?

Stand up for Family and good clean laughter!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of American Family Insurance for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Anthony and I love to watch comedies together. Once we find something good, we end up watching it over and over!  We both really love stand up comedy, but it can be really hard to find good clean stand up out there. I can't tell you how many specials we have tried to watch on Netflix and have turned off within a few minutes because of language, etc... I feel like if you need to be crass to be funny, then you really aren't that talented.

If you are like us, and are in search of some good, clean stand up, you should check this out: Stand Up For Family. I just spent the last 20 minutes watching the videos and couldn't stop laughing! It is so refreshing to have comedians talk about real life without taking it down into the gutter. My favorites are definitely the videos by Bill Bellamy, especially this one about Eye Begging:

All his videos remind me of my childhood in some way, especially when he talks about his mom. His mom definitely seems a little tougher than my mom was, but she for sure didn't put up with any nonsense! I like that when I think about my childhood and how I was raised, it reminds me of what kind of parent I want to be. I feel really blessed that I had a good example and a good template to base my parenting on, since I know that it isn't the case for a lot of people.

I'm so glad that AmFam sponsored these videos. I wish that more companies would take a stand for clean fun and family values. When you really think about it, our family relationships shape so much of our life experiences that we need to make them a priority in our lives. I can honestly say that my family are my best friends and I wouldn't want it any other way.

So check out American Family Insurance and enjoy some family-centered comedy!

We've got a tooth!

Ever since James was 4 months old, he has had bouts of being super drooly and cranky. We always wondered, "Could he be teething....", but nothing ever came of it. This past week he has been cranky and even woke up crying in the middle of the night a few times, which he never does. We almost didn't want to ask ourselves if he is teething, because we wondered about it a gagillion times and were wrong, but today we felt the first tooth peeking through! It is hard to get a look at, since the wriggly guy won't stay still and let us look in his mouth for long, bit I happened to catch a glimpse. He is finally getting some teeth!! I can't wait to get those pictures with the toothy smiles!

Also, a few days ago James said his first word! We've been trying to get him to say "mama" or "dada" for awhile, but he usually just laughs at us. The other day we were saying "dada" to him and he actually repeated it on purpose!! He has started doing it much more now and it is so funny to listen to, because he actually uses a different voice when he is trying to "talk" versus just babbling. So cute! I'm not sure that if officially counts as a first word, since he didn't really know what he was saying but we are going with it :)

Saving money with TracFone

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TracFone for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you ever looked at your cell phone bill? I mean, really looked at it. I did the other day and you know what I realized? Last month I spent $10.49 in fees and surcharges! That is $125.88 a year!! We could pay for James' new car seat right there if we didn't have those fees, not to mention the actual cost of our plans. Seriously, if we weren't already in a contract (darn those tempting free upgrades with contract renewals!!) we would be switching and saving some serious money!

If you are interested in saving some money, you should check out TracFone! TracFone offers all the convenience and features you could want in a cell phone with the flexibility of no contracts and different minutes options to fit your own family's needs. No credit check, no activation charges, and no cancelation fees. Awesome, right?  This would also be perfect if you have wanted to get a cell phone for your kids, but didn’t want to mess with additional contracts and fees! I definitely will be doing this with James when he is old enough, it is so affordable!

They also offer great nationwide coverage and brand name phones like Motorola and Samsung. You can choose from more simple phones like mine or fancier smart phones like Anthony’s (he has to have his internet access!). Plus, they have a great selection in both categories for amazing prices!

So many features



The plans are great too. You can pay as you go online, which I think would be a great option for a teenager’s phone, or you can go with the monthly plans: 200 minutes for under $30 or as low as $9.99 for 50 minutes. You can pick and choose what works best for your situation! I’ve had the same contract plan for so long, that having all these options feels so luxurious :)

If you are a cooler person than me and need to make international calls, it’s no problem! You can call over 60 international destinations from your TracFone for no extra cost and they even have an International Neighbors program that lets you give your friends and family in Mexico or Canada a local number in those countries for them to call you in the US. Cool, huh? Now I need to get me some international friends to call…  

Here’s the scoop from some real TracFone customers:
Real TracFone customers

What are you waiting for? Go check it out! 

8 Months Old

My little buddy is 8 months old today! Isn't that amazing? This month literally flew by! Here are some pictures:

 What a cutie! I can't believe how long his limbs look in this picture. He has gotten really good at sitting up and will spend long periods of time just sitting and playing with his toys that are in reach.

 He loves chewing on the clip to this toy. I've even seen him flip it over, looking for the clip before he grabs it. Funny!

 Here he is grabbing another toy that was nearby. He instantly reaches for anything and everything that is near him where ever we go. We went to an aquarium store the other day and he kept reaching for the anemones in the tank. He just wants to touch everything!

 I tried to get him smiling, but the picture always ends up like this :)

 Outtake!!!

The dogs made a noise and he turned to check it out. He is so curious all the time!! He can't hear a noise or sound without trying to investigate what is making it.

New things this month:

• He has started eating cheerios and puffed rice and he LOVES to feed himself. He still lets me feed him purees, but I think he would be happy eating cheerios all the time if I let him. We all get a kick out of watching him feed himself since when he started he was so bad at it and now he shovels it in like a pro!
• He had his first episode of stranger anxiety with my brother when he came to visit and it was adorable and sad at the same time :) He would look at his face with this confusion and then slowly the cry would come over his face and he would stick his bottom lip out. Then he would cry and look around for someone to save him. He has also decided that he is NOT okay with me leaving his side and will cry the second I leave his line of sight. Sometimes I just ignore it, but mostly I just take him with me all around the house and everywhere I go. Anthony said he feels snubbed that he doesn't act the same way towards him. Anthony left the house the other day and told James, "Okay, I'm leaving, you can cry now". Of course, I decided that would be a good time to tickle James so he would laugh. I know. I'm mean :)
• You know how we taught him to make noise when we pat his mouth? He has learned to do it to himself! It is hilarious!! He will just be sitting there and decide to bring his fingers to his mouth and make a wavy noise with it. He was a hit when he did it at the baby class this week. He doesn't say mama or dada, but he learned how to be a ham fast enough!

Happy today!

Today I decided to link up with Mamarazzi's Happy List!

• I am beyond HAPPY that I decided to not do this ridiculous diet anymore! It was so restrictive, that I was craving healthy food, like yogurt and feeling angry that I couldn't have the things I eat on a normal basis (like protein bars and other healthy snacks). Plus, I spent the entire week so carb deprived, that I slugged around the house feeling like I had mono (not that I have ever had it. But, you know, I've heard). So this morning I had puffed kamut and almond milk for breakfast again. It was awesome!!! Welcome back carbs, I missed you :)
• I am HAPPY that it is finally starting to cool down here on the east coast. I've been seeing facebook updates from friends in Gainesville for a few days talking about the nice weather and all I could think was, "Where is it??". Of course, Anthony reminds me that Gainesville is "up north" now :)
• I am also HAPPY that now that I have my energy back (thank goodness!!) I've decided that I am going to do some sort of workout every day of October. This morning I went on a 2.5 mile walk with James to Publix. Day 1 completed!

So what are you happy about today?