One Thrifty Momma!

Any of you that know me well know that I LOVE a good bargain.  I cut coupons and match them with the sales each week at the grocery store and rarely buy clothes without them being on sale or using a coupon.  Somehow I can justify the purchase if it is on sale!

My Aunt and Uncle from Wisconsin sent Noah some money on Valentine's Day to "take his momma shopping".  How awesome is it that a gift to Noah actually ends up being a gift to me?  I don't want him to grow up. HA! We have hardly had to buy any clothes for Noah because we received so many clothes as gifts early on, but as he gets bigger we have less an less clothing that fits him. So, I did some online shopping and scored big time.  So big that I am obligated to share my finds.

Our first purchase was some BabyLegs.  We found them on babysteals.com (if you don't know about this site, go... GO NOW!!!) for only $20... which is over 50% off (1 pair is normally $12).  I know, they practically PAID ME to buy them.

Our next stop was Children's Place.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Here's what I found..

First, I will tell you the grand total BEFORE sales prices and coupon codes (15% off and free shipping)... for effect, of course.  Then I will tell you how much I actually paid.  This makes me all giddy inside!!!

Grand Total before savings: $122.72
Total after savings: $46.29

I hope Noah realizes how awesome his momma is.

xoxo,
The Grant Gang

Clancy

When Micah was a little boy, his Grandma Grayce gave him a bear named Clancy.  Clancy was Micah's favorite stuffed animal growing up, and Micah's mom sent him to our new house when we got married.  He hung out in the guest bedroom with my Teddy that I grew up with. 

Teddy, Clancy, and Clancy II

When Micah and I found out we were pregnant, sweet Grandma Grayce bought Baby G a teddy bear and named him Clancy II.  We had no idea at the time how truly special this bear would be to us.  Shortly after giving us Clancy II, Grandma Grayce unexpectedly passed away.  Both Micah and I were heartbroken that Noah would never get to meet his sweet GG, but it was so special knowing that she left a little bit behind for Noah... even he was "Grayced" by a woman he never met!

Clancy II and Clancy giving kisses to Noah

I hope that as Noah grows up, Clancy will become his favorite stuffed animal.  It seems he already likes him alright... :-)

Noah, 3mo, loving on Clancy II

The Grant Gang

Life as a Snowmad

As I am sure most people know, Arington had record snowfall this past week.  It started snowing early Thursday morning and did not stop until Friday morning.  The storm brought a total of 12.5" of snow in a 24hr period!

Snowcovered tree across the street, 2/12/2010

Our electricity went out a little past midnight on Friday morning from fallen limbs somewhere in the area.  It was nuts!  We had to pack up our things so we could begin our weekend as nomads.  Who knew we needed so much crap stuff for one night?

Pile of overnight stuff

After taking a shower at Tita Mandy's, we headed to the park to take a few pictures to document the occassion.  Can't you tell Noah is excited?!

Noah all bundled up in his potato sack and sleepywrap

"I'm cold!!! Take me home!!"

We hoped that our electricity would only be out for the night, but it ended up being out for over 72 hours.  Each morning we hopefully packed all of our bags and put it in the car, thinking it would be the last night we would be without electricity.... and kept getting disappointed!  To add to all of the drama, Joyous Creations had three cakes due this weekend.  The Sky Boss helped us out by nudging us to work on the two Saturday cakes on Thursday (instead of our original plan of Friday), so we only had to worry about one cake.  We loaded up all of our supplies and headed over to Joyce and Aaron's to work on it. I think it turned out pretty well, especially considering all we had to go through to get it done in time!

Nascar Cake, created by Joyous Creations

All in all, we lucked out.  We are SO blessed to so close to all our family... so close that we consider my dad and Patti to live "far", and they are only about 15-20minutes away.  We stayed at Micah's parents house and my mom's house, both who live less than 5 minutes from us, so that we could easily go back and forth to check the status of the electricity and get things as we needed them. They took great care of us... and we ate really well! Although it was a total pain in the butt, we had a few fun overnights, and I am pretty sure the grandparents loved every minute of it!

Here's to spring time coming sooner rather than later... and to swimsuits and sunscreen this summer!!!

xoxo,
~The Grant Gang

Drool Monster

We have been lucky... Noah is not much of a spitter-upper. But I promise you.... he makes up for it in the drool department...

The Grant Gang

Quarter of a Year

Dear Noah,

You are 3 months old (5 days ago)... a quarter of a year!  As cliche as it sounds, I seriously can not believe it.  It is quite surreal... it seems like years ago that I was doing silly things to pass the time, waiting for you to make your arrival...

But it seems like just yesterday that I got to bring you home when you were only a few hours old and cuddle with you in bed.

It has been so much fun being at home with you every day.  I have transitioned pretty well to being a stay at home mommy... we are already a part of two play groups, go to MOM time at church, and have Tita Joyce and Austin over frequently to bake cakes.  I don't know who says that being a SAHM is boring... we are NEVER bored!! 

Here's what you are up to these days:

- You love playing on your play mat... you swing at the toys, grab the ones you can reach, and squeal in delight at the lights and music.

- You smile at anyone who gives you attention... you love social interaction!

- You are a true momma's boy... you start to cry if I turn my back on you, but as soon as I turn back around, you smile from ear to ear.

- You are learning the art of rolling from your stomach to your back... you do this mostly in your crib, but you have done it once or twice on the couch, too.

- You are a drama king.  You can go from the biggest pout to the biggest smile in a split second.  It gives your daddy and I something to laugh about!

- You are getting better at riding in the carseat now that we have a fun mirror toy for you to look at.  But if it is dark and you can not see, you are not a happy camper!

- You love being in the sleepy wrap facing out while I am shopping.  You smile at all the people ooh-ing and aah-ing over you, and love looking at all of the things going by.

- People frequently tell me you are one of the cutest babies they have ever seen... and I agree!

- Your hair is starting to really grow back in... pretty much all of your "baby hair" has fallen out.

- You have completely grown out of all your 0-3month clothes and you are wearing a size 2 shoe.

- You have recently started to squirm up to the corner of your crib and sleep with your face snuggled up against something.  Even when you are sleeping, you love to snuggle!

- You are back to eating every 2 1/2 hours... this has helped your night sleeping tremendously!

- You hate the bottle... but we are working on this!

- You are pretty much completely done with the paciphier, and did this all on your own.  Now you just love your hand... and sometimes your thumb.

- You love being outside. If you are upset, that is sometimes the only thing that calms you down!

I love you so stinkin much, Noah!  You bring your daddy and I so much love, laughter, and joy.  I am so lucky to be your mommy!!!

~ The Grant Gang

Hittin' the bottle

This is how the Grant household feels about bottles.  ALL of us.

When Noah was about 5 weeks old we gave him a bottle for the first time.  He took it like a champ, and I was so thankful that was not a battle we were going to have to fight.  I had heard of breastfed babies who would refuse the bottle, and I was thanking the good Lord that mine was not one of them!  I wanted to be able to leave Noah for longer than 2 hours at any given time and not worry about the poor guy going hungry, not to mention for Noah to have a means to eat if (God forbid) something were to happen to me and I could not nurse Noah.  Because he took it so easily, we didn't worry about giving him a bottle very frequently to "retain the skill".  He took the bottle when we left him with the grandparents, and that was that!

Then, one beautiful Sunday afternoon surrounded by friends and family at a birthday lunch, Noah suddenly decided the bottle was his worst enemy.  He didn't just close his mouth and refuse to take the nipple.  He screamed, squirmed, and thrashed to get away from that thing.  He wanted nothing to do with it!  We tried different bottles, different nipples, different temperatures, different positions, different people... nothing.  The only way the kid would take the bottle was when he got so tired from screaming that he was too exhausted to realize it wasn't the real thing.  At first I thought it may have been an isolated ordeal, but it continued.  Out of about 10 bottles, he only took one of them without a fight (Gayle, I still don't get it!).  Not only does this mean that Noah cried and screamed for hours on end, it also means that my precious liquid gold (pumped breast milk) went down the drain.  I am not sure which i\was worse. I am pretty sure I had a few meltdowns, believing I was going to be breastfeeding my son until he went to college (eww!).

I have always felt so sorry for mothers who struggled with breastfeeding.  I have heard horror storries of nights filled with tears (from momma, daddy, and baby) because the baby had trouble latching on.  Then, when they decided to use the bottle for the first time, it was like the heavens opened up and shined down on earth.  The bottle then became their saving grace.  Oh, how I envy these mommas now!  Don't get me wrong... I love nursing.  It is such a sweet bond I share with my son, and allows us to have sweet alone time together every few hours forcing us to sit down, be still, and just love on eachother.  It is convenient (instant meal) and so benefitial for Noah.  I love knowing that I am the only one who can meet a specific need for Noah.  All of that being said, I would also love to know that he isn't going to starve and whither away if I wasn't around.

So this week, we started the longest week of my life.  We are torturing giving Noah a bottle every night for the next week.  At that point, we are going to reevaluate and see if we need to do another week, or if he has given up his protest and taken to the bottle.  So, around 7:30 every night, please drop to your knees and pray. Pray hard!



XOXO,
~The Grant Gang

It's About Time!

Noah is almost three months old and I am JUST getting around to starting a blog... something I inteded on doing while I was still pregnant!  Hopefully this will help me keep everyone, near and far, up to date on the going-ons of the Grant Gang!  However, I imagine there will be a whole lot about our little Baby G and a whole little about the rest of the gang...

I have spent waaay too much time already formatting this thing, so I am just going to leave you with a few cute shots of the little man... I am off to take a nap fold some laundry. 

I hope Noah continues to like wearing hats, 'cause Momma sure does think he looks pretty stinkin' cute in them!

One of his million faces...

I just love this boy!!!

XOXO,
~The Grant Gang