A Year Already

It is hard to believe this time last year I was in the hospital holding a 1 day old baby.  Yesterday was Vivian's 1st birthday.  The past year has went by so fast.  Every one of her firsts have been wonderful and sad at the same time.  She will be our last baby so we will never see that first smile, first laugh or the first step again.  We still have many events ahead of us, but we must remember to cherish each day and celebrate each milestone. 

Vivian has been walking since Sept 11 and soon she will be talking.  She is starting to repeat sounds over and over.  Some sound like words and some are just sounds.  I actually enjoy listening to her babble, but once she starts talking I am sure I will miss the days when she just giggled and laughed.

I took the kids to get pictures over the weekend, but Vivian decided right when i was time to take pictures that she only wanted to be held by mommy.  That's right we were one of those people with a crying baby that did not want to take pictures.  We were able to get a few good ones and when I say a few I mean 3-4 out about 15 pictures.  On Monday Vivian and I went to the park while Kirsten and Anthony were at school.  I took a few pictures of her there since it was the first sunny day in a few weeks.  I think I actually got some pretty good ones.  I think it is really funny that I can rarely get a picturee of her smiling.  Instead most of her pictures she has the same look on her face, but it is so adorable.

Here are some pictures of our Vivian the day before her 1st birthday.

Bargains

I decided to go to Toys R Us today to buy some Christmas gifts.  Since I am no longer working, I need to buy gifts a little at a time.  Yesterday I got a coupon from Fisher-Price for $20 off $100 purchase.  Since one of the items I wanted to get Vivian was $80, I decided to take advantage of the coupon.  I also had some coupons: 15% off one item, $5 of a  Playskool purchase of $25, and a $5 R Us coupon.  The Playskool toys and Fisher-Price are on sale for 30% off.  Since the toys were on sale I was unable to use the $20 coupon.  I am so proud of my savings that I had to share my purchases and savings. 

Toy                                          Reg. Price                My Price

Playskool Cow Blockimals          $4.99                       $2.75
Playskool Pig Blockimals            $4.99                       $2.75
Playskool Busy Gears                 $18.99                     $10.43
Playskool Busy Garden               $17.99                     $5.50
Laugh Learn Phone                   $17.99                     $12.10
Laugh Learn Learning Home     $79.99                      $45.77
Bop & Rock Lion                       $19.99                      $13.45
Fisher-Price Diapers                 $5.99                        $0.00

Total Savings $60.18

And here they are.

Tired?! This is a word that every mom knows and understands, but usually it is due to lack of sleep from a waking baby. Not me.....can you say insomnia? All of my kids are in bed by 8 pm and they don't get up until I wake them in the morning. Kirsten and Anthony get up at 6:15 am and they are on the bus at 6:45 am then I crawl back in bed and try to sleep until Vivian gets up around 8:00 am, but sometimes I just lay there. So why am I not able to fall asleep until after 12 am. Yes it is nice to have a few hours of quiet at night, but I would prefer a good 8 hours of sleep.

What do I do during these late night hours? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I could get some things done like Vivian's 1st year scrapbook that I haven't started but I prefer to lay on the couch or in bed and do one of the following: read a book/magazine, get online or watch TV. I can't wait for the new shows to start. I have set up my TiVo to record all the shows and then I will have something to watch instead of the "o so real" Lifetime movies or movies I have seen already.

I have decided to start a blog to write about my life as a stay at home mom.

My baby girl, Vivian, took her first steps last Friday. Time sure does go by so fast. I can't believe she will be turning 1 in 2 weeks.

Where has this year went? We have been through so many changes in the last year. It is just amazing how things change in such a short time. At this time last year, I was nearing the end of my pregnancy. Now I sit here and look at this little girl playing on the floor and I think about how much my life has changed. Over the past year we have welcomed another daughter, welcomed a new niece, I got laid off and as a result I became a stay at home mom. It was a blessing in disguise. I lost my job the same time the kids were getting out of school for the summer. It was so nice to be able to spend time together as a family without the interuptions of work or school.