The latest around here

I thought I'd take a few minutes while Devin and Addison are at the gym to update my blog. I am staring at my TRASHED house (thank you Addison), thinking this might not be the best idea, but oh well.

Our cat Gus isn't really doing that well. He quit eating when Ainsley was born (yeah 6 weeks ago) and has lost quite a bit of weight. Originally I'd see him occasionally eating his food and thought it wasn't that big of a deal because he was too fat anyway. Well now he's gotten to be really bony and lethargic. Devin took him to the vet and $250 later he came home with some pills and a syringe to syringe feed him canned food. Thankfully Devin has been really nice about taking on this task because I don't have a lot of time to care for a toddler, nurse a baby and syringe feed a cat. It's really hard to know what to do. He keeps throwing up the food. The vet mentioned the next step would be to put in a feeding tube. Now as much as I love my cat (it borders on obsession really) that is NOT going to happen. Hopefully he'll eat on his own soon. How do you know where to draw the line with pets? I don't want him to suffer, but he is getting older and we have limited funds to invest in him.

The snow did not decimate my flowers like I thought. Heather (my friend and personal gardening pro) assured me they'd be fine and they are! Yay! The weather is beautiful once again.

My car didn't end up costing an arm and a leg either. It was about $350 and not $600 like we thought it might be. Phew.

So it's another month of not paying off our car like we were hoping, but I am still thankful for that $1000 emergency fund.

I was at my doctor appointment today (6 week check up). Like ALL postnatal (is that the right word?) women, I hopped up on that scale expecting dramatic weightloss results! C'mon baby 10 lbs!! Woo hoo!!

Nope. 1 measly pound. ONE POUND?! FOR REAL? I've been trying REALLY hard! Ok maybe not that hard. I ate a razzle dazzle sundae today at Sheridans that was amazing. Oh, and that pumpkin pie last night. Ok so I guess I need to cut back on those desserts. :) I did discover this thing of beauty called Exercise TV on demand. Yesterday I did a Biggest Loser Cardiomax routine (it was filled with past contestants and none other than Bob Harper himself) that made me work up quite a sweat. Addison did it with me, but she only lasted one minute. Anyway, I've got about 15-20 pounds to lose...sigh...., but we'll get it done.

Addison was so cute today. She started breastfeeding her baby doll! What made it even cuter was when she said "she likes Addy's milk!" Devin thought it was a little strange, but I told him it was perfectly normal. That's how she sees me feeding her sister, so why would she feed her baby differently?


















Here are some other recent pictures:

stuff

First we had to shell out $765 to an electrician. Now it's $500 for the car and Gus decided to go on a 6 week eating strike and is not doing good at all so he needs to go to the vet.

Then I find out we're having a blizzard that will decimate all of my beautiful tulips, hyacinths and iris that are trying to make their way out of the ground.

Then I think about my friends who have cancer, lost their babies or can't have them, have a loved one overseas, don't have a job or who all around have much bigger problems and it gives me some perspective.

So here's some pointers straight out of the lips of Jesus, who according to Amanda, may look different than we thought:

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like on of these.
Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness , all all these things shall be added to you.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

YUM!

I just tried some of Erica's baked strawberry oatmeal today and it was delicious! I told Addison we were making "oatmeal cake" to get her excited about it. Once she figured out it was more like oatmeal than cake, she lost interest. Hey..it was worth a try. It really was delicious. Thanks for posting the recipe Erica!

Menu Plan

I've never done this before, but I was a good girl and made my meal plan tonight. Here's what the Rileys will be eating this week:

Breakfasts:
typical breakfasty things. :)

My current favorite thing to eat for lunch is brown rice, black beans, and diced tomatoes w/ green chilis all mixed together with a little cheese on top. It's almost like Chipotle. Ok not really....
Devin just has leftovers. Addison...well let's just not go there. We are currently having a good vegetable week, so we'll just be thankful for that.

Dinners (I can't bring myself to designate a day for each meal. I hate being confined to something like that! What if I change my mind?! Here's my random list:

Pesto Shrimp Pasta w/ salad
Flavorful Crusted Pork Chops w/ roasted potatoes and green beans
Tacos, Pinto Beans and Mexican Rice
Red Beans and Rice, Cornbread and fruit
Italian Sausage Bow-ties and Salad
Spinach Artichoke Calzones and...something...

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On another note Devin and I have been having some major behavior issues (not the good kind) from Addison. I would really like to know what happened to my sweet, always wanting to please, non-sneaky, non-destructive child. I don't know who this new child is. Not only is she trying my patience (which I'm realizing doesn't consist of much to start with), she's making me realize that I am...:::sigh::: a yeller. I don't want to be a yeller. I really, really don't. I want to have a nice, soothing voice like Devin's dad. This is something God will have to help me with because I really stink at trying to fix myself. I need lots of help. The problem is I always try to fix myself before I ask for the help. I digress....

While we're on the subject of things that are scary:

My brother sent me a couple of those Twilight books a long time ago. I put off reading them because I don't like scary things. I thought it was going to be a scary vampire book, but he assured me it's not scary, so here we go. So far I'm at the part where Bella sees the "pale" kids in the cafeteria.

I have one more question before I go to bed:
Do you like to read the same book more than once? I do! One of my favorite books is Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner, and I read it at least once or twice a year.

Nerdy Confession

I just bought a new binder for my coupons and I am so excited to put it together!!!!

Ok that's all.

Oh, and my epidural from having Ainsley cost $1000. Best thousand bucks I ever spent!

Edit for Brandi: Insurance covered a big chunk of that! The irritating thing is that they applied the whole $1000 to my HRA and then after that was used up they adjusted the amount down to what they would pay the doctor. Cheapskates! Still worth it...

Addison's Backpack

We took Addison to Lawrence for the St. Patrick's Day parade. I told her to pack a bag with for the car.

Addison: "Ok mom, I got my magic wand, my pull-up, my Barbie dress and my cinderella dress in my backpack!"

It was so cute I couldn't bear to change the backpack out, so more of her stuff in my already overstuffed bag and another backpack of useless crap in our car (with the exception of the pull-up).

I guess everyone should have a magic wand in their backpack. You never know when it could come in handy.

TOLD YOU!

This is why we don't like credit cards:

We have one credit card (Gap Visa) that Devin uses for his work trips. Other than that, we don't like credit cards. We cut all of them up and use cash or our debit card. We've heard lots of people say "well just pay it off in full every month and then you get points." No. They have plenty of complicated billing "procedures" put in place to confuse their customers so they can collect lots and lots of fees.

Example:

Devin's mom bought us some fiesta dinnerware which brightens up our kitchen and makes me feel happy every time we eat (it's the little things...). She didn't want to have to ship it from DC so Devin and I went to Macy's and picked some out because it was on sale half off each place setting. We discovered that if we opened up a Macy's card we'd save an additional 30% on top of the sale already happening. Devin was approved and we got 8 place settings, two serving bowls and a platter for $175. Not bad! His mom sent us a check in the mail and we waited until we got a bill to send it in. Well the bill never came. Devin got online and the payment was going to be due very soon, even though we never received a bill. He wrote down the address and sent it in. Two days ago two envelopes came from Macy's. Apparently when Devin sent in his payment it went to our "Red Star Rewards account, which now has a $175 credit" but the $175 bill is still outstanding on our "Red Star Rewards Visa Account." HUH?!

We haven't called yet to sort it out yet, but I'm sure it's going to be oh so much fun just like always.

Goodbye Macy's. You're going into the shredder just like the others.

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UPDATE:

Devin just called and they transferred the balance from the "store account" to the "VISA account" with no problems. I still don't understand why anyone would need two accounts.

I'm sorry

Dear moneysaving mom,

Thank you for posting about the free coffee mate creamer deal at Walgreens. The truth is, your site has saved my family lots of money and I need to quit comparing myself to you. Good luck with your frozen meal endeavors. Now if you'll excuse me, my 2 year old is hurling toys over the balcony.

hmmm....

Leigh Ayn I'm glad you told me about moneysavingmom.com She has some great tips and I enjoy reading the posts, but occasionally I read her posts and clearly see the difference between us. She is clearly a Type A personality and I am clearly...not.

This is an excerpt from today's post:

"I also took a quick inventory and realized that I now have 17 dinners in the freezer for after the baby is born. Yay!"

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? WHO HAS TIME TO DO THAT?!?! AND HOW DO 17 DINNERS FIT IN YOUR FREEZER?????

So thank you to my mom, Roz, Aunt Shel and my wonderful friends who have cooked me amazingly tasty meals getting me through this "transition." Oh, and a double thanks to my husband who is happy with an egg sandwich, and loves me even though I could never get it together enough to prepare 17 meals in advance.

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Anyway, Ainsley is so cute and sweet and I absolutely love her, but I also feel like I have begun a brand new life (This brand new life would be way better if I didn't need a brand new, bigger size). Unfortunately I think I created some completely ridiculous expectations for myself that because I have taken care of Celia most of her life that I could handle this transition pretty easily. Going from one to two is different and it is much harder than I thought, but every day gets a little bit easier and a little bit more like normal. I have had some nursing hurdles to overcome, and Ainsley is pretty colicky in the evenings, but I am just trying to take it one day at a time, which is not easy for someone like me who does not like to take things one day at a time, but would rather worry in advance. I also like to write in long, run-on sentences! I still think it's easier than being a first-time mom. I promise to keep you guys posted.

Check out my Aunt's blog for some cute pictures from her trip out here!

The great thing about nursing is I can get caught up on all my shows! This season of American Idol is so exciting. I was torn tonight between Adam and Danny. Black and White was one of my favorite songs in 5th grade. I liked watching the music video when all the different people would morph into each other.

Say a prayer for my dad! He has a job interview tomorrow!

Not too busy to notice the funny stuff

I bought these pull-ups at CVS. Knowing Addison might not want to wear them because they didn't have Dora and Boots on the front, I said "ADDISON LOOK! THESE PULL UPS ARE EXTRA SPECIAL BECAUSE THEY HAVE FRIENDS ON THEM!" She said "Oh! Friends!" Then she went and told Devin "That's me and Elise!"

This is Elise:
















Things have been busy around here, but here's one more picture for you: