You get what you pay for...

Except for a package of diapers I bought while we were gone evacuating, I haven't had to buy diapers until this week. But it hit at the time of the month when we don't have a lot of extra money, so I took my coupons to the grocery store to see what kind of deal I could get. Even with the coupons, the store brand of diapers was cheaper. The package looked so nice with quotes on it from moms about how great the diapers were. So I bought them instead of the name brands. And I learned again that you get what you pay for. Campbell's leaked on two outfits since yesterday. I have realized there are some things you can get by with buying the cheap store brand. But there are some things you should spend the few extra cents (or dollars when it comes to diapers) to get the better quality. Like speghetti sauce. I only buy Prego Organic. I have tried the cheaper brands but they just aren't as good. So I will go back to spending a little extra for Pampers or Huggies. My first two boys really only wore Huggies, but someone bought us Pampers this time, and I really like them. Back to cutting coupons!

My observations of facebook...

Ok, first of all, I am addicted to facebook. Its ridiculous! I walk by the computer, and it calls to me, "Come see who added you as a friend. Come see what random people were thinking 5 minutes ago!" and I have to stop and sit down and look. So silly. But it cracks me up this whole friendship thing. I see a friend that I know and I think, I know there are people we both know, so I look at their friendship list and find at least one person to connect with. But I have to say, I see lots of people that I have known at one time in my life, but I think, if I asked them to be my friend, they would think I was weird because we really weren't friends. But apparently other people do not have that filter because I have gotten requests from people that I honestly do not know. I looked a few up in my college yearbook and there they were, so I confirm their friendship because I'm too nice not to. Jason said he denies people all the time. I asked him if they get a message that he denied them, and he said he doesn't care, that's the point. But I'm too nice. But last night, I actually deleted three people that I honestly don't know. It said they don't notify them, which is good. And then I had a horrible thought. I am waiting on about 20 people to confirm my friendship, and what if they don't want to be friends with me, and they denied me and I just don't know it??!!! Is that possible? Do people really not want to be my friend? Were there people who accepted me, but they were too nice to say no, and deleted me later? Jason said a lot of people just try to get as many friends as possible. At first I thought that was ridiculous, but I have to say, I am proud of myself as my friend count goes up. Just what I need is another avenue of testing my low-self esteem.

Well, I did it.

I joined facebook. I have a friend who moved to Singapore and joined facebook and asked me to, so I did. And within two hours I had so many people who found me. Crazy. People who have had my email address for years, but suddenly on facebook they can chat. I didn't realize how behind the times I was. I thought I was all with it since I had a blog, but apparently not. Its kind of fun I must say to see so many people I haven't seen in years. Grant it, its a 1 by 2 inch picture, and most of them aren't good, I hope. I don't want to post one of myself, because I'm sure it won't look good either. And since I am still way behind the times at home with dial up, I'll have to find time to go to Jason's office to post a picture. Just what I need is another way to waste my time! I kind of feel like I'm cheating on my blog.

Things here are fine. Busy week. Jason was out of town and my mom was here. Then we had a family conference at church this weekend, so a good friend of ours came in to teach at it. So my house is really clean. Campbell is doing great. The easiest baby of the three, knock on wood. I started working in childcare last week. Tuesdays are bad, but Wednesdays are fine. I'll go into that another time. I just keep telling myself, "this is for Cade." I'm only working to pay his tuition for preschool. Of course its selfish too, that's two 10 hours a week he's out of my hair.

Happy Birthday Campbell!

Today Campbell is 2 months old! How did that happen?! So I took him to the doctor for his check up, which was an adventure. I have thought the last two years since we have been using this doctor that they needed to redo their offices, and Hurricane Ike pushed them into it. Apparently, they had a lot of damage, so they had to move to a temporary location for 4-6 months while their offices are getting redone. Well, this temporary office was soooo tiny. And there are 4 doctors in the practice, it was a mad house! People walking all over each other. Anyway, it wasn't fun. But he looks great. Weighs 12 lbs 7 oz, 75 percentile. Then we got the dreaded shots, 3 shots and an oral vaccine. I had been thinking for awhile about the vaccines, I have heard so much in the media about the link between them and autism, etc. My mom is getting her doctorate in natural medicine, and really didn't want me to get them (from my translation of comments she had made.) But after the storm, Dr. Dave the pediatrician, ironically enough a good friend of my parents, stayed at our house one night while working on his beach house in Galveston. And I asked him about vaccines. He made me feel so much better. He said that the committee who decides the schedule is pediatricians, not pharmaceutical companies, so they only want whats best for the children. And yes, you can spread them out, but that only makes the child have more painful visits, and opens them up to get the disease while they are waiting for the vaccine. He said there are no studies that prove the link between vaccines and autism, but its one of those things you really can't prove cause and effect. But the best thing he said, that really made me feel better, was that there are risks, but there are risks in everything. Children die in car accidents because they are trapped in their car seats, but are we not going to use car seats because of that risk? Of course not. The benefits far out weigh the risks. So he got his shots today. And yes, he is grumpy. But he won't remember it. He's already forgotten I'm sure.

The trucks came through today and picked up most of our debris in our neighborhood, and all of our traffic lights are working now. Things are getting back to normal. We are waiting for our insurance to tell us how much money we get for repairs, probably a new roof.

OH YEAH! Campbell is celebrating his two month birthday by sleeping through the night! The past three nights he has gone 7-8 hours at night! Yippee!

Cereal

I realized last night at 4 am when I was nursing, that Cooper had a bowl of cereal before he went to bed. "So what?" you might be saying. Well, if memory serves me right, that was his first bowl of cereal, and yes, he's six. We found out about his extensive food allergies when he was 14 months old, and at the time, he was allergic to every grain except the strange ones you can only get at health food stores, and at the time, they didn't make kid cereals out of the strange grains he could eat. So no cereal. I remember giving him a bowl of cereal when he was two, and I can remember the look on his face, as if to say to me, "why Mommy, would you ruin perfectly good milk by pouring on that stuff, and expecting me to eat it?" So no cereal. Then Cade was born who has no food allergies (how does that happen) and when he started eating cheerios like all good babies do, Cooper would gag at the smell of them and tell me to get them away from him. Cade starting eating bowls of cereal with milk when he was old enough, for a few months, and then he realized big brother wasn't eating it, and that was the end of that. He loves dry cereal, but not in a bowl with milk. Well, I have gotten really into eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch, because its lower on sugar than most sweet cereals and its made with wheat, not oat or corn which I am allergic to. And Cooper decided he likes it, and last night when he got home from baseball and soccer practice, asked me for a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch with milk, and scarfed it down. And it didn't dawn on me until 4 in the morning, that I think that was his first bowl of cereal with milk. A major milestone!

Picks of the week... FOOD

Stouffers Express Lasagna, the great tasting lasagna that has really good ingredients for a processed food, cooked in the microwave in 17 1/2 minutes. Fabulous.

Mom's Best Natural Cereals... I bought a box at Walmart last week. Its the basic cereal flavers we eat, I got frosted mini wheats, but made with natural ingredients. No matter what the corn refiners association commercials are saying, corn syrup is not a natural ingredient in my family's diet.

I miss being pregnant...

I miss being pregnant. Not the throwing up, getting kicked in the ribs, not being able to sleep on my stomach, being exhausted parts, but the other parts. I miss that feeling that I had that I was the sole carrier of some huge big secret, that no one else had a part of, that I was carrying an angel. I miss that feeling of anticipation where I wondered what he would look like. I selfishly miss the attention I got when I was pregnant. When I had the baby, people no longer look at me, they look at the baby, which is fine, because I feel ugly. No matter how big I was when I was pregnant, and how much I complained about being big, I secretly felt cute and pretty and special. Don't get me wrong, I love and adore Campbell and he is so precious, and I have no regrets at all. And don't get me wrong, we are done. But there is that sad part of me that its over. I gave most of my maternity clothes away today, minus a few shirts I am still wearing. And as happy as I was to pass them on to my dear friend who needs them more than I do, when she asked if I needed them back, and I said no, I had a sad moment. But I can look in Campbell's beautiful eyes and be thankful that I am holding my angel in my arms.