I have joined the rest of the known world.

I bought an ipod.

First Haircut!

Luke had his first haircut today. We went to Chandra Sisson (Traver's sister). She did a great job on a very wiggly Luke. He just got a little trim. His hair looks much nicer now.

San Fransisco

By a fountain in downtown Sausilito.

Downtown San Fran
Pet store in China town. Luke LOVED it. I think it was the highlight of his whole trip.
The fam at Muir park.
Mommy and Luke sitting in a hollow redwood tree trunk.
Luke and Kyle in our hotel (The Palace Hotel built in 1875) in San Fransisco.

It's been quite a while since I've posted. We've been gone for a week. We were in California from the 3rd to the 10th. I had been very worried about how Luke would do on the airplane with naps etc. but he did great. Much better than expected. He didn't sleep at all on the plane on the way there, but fell asleep in his stroller in Deven during our short layover.

We went to San Fransisco for 3 days and had big fun. We walked around down town, went to Chinatown, toured Alcatraz, saw the Sea Lions at Pier 39, drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, drove down Lombard street (the crookedest street in the world), went to Muir state park, and visited Sausilito. In three days. With a baby. We managed to accomplish a lot.

The only challenge of our trip was Luke's refusal to eat jarred baby food. He finally found two different fruit combos that he liked and a few veggies, but he wouldn't eat ANY of the meat combinations. He ate off our plates a lot.

After our three days in San Fran we drove to Roseville (just north of Sacramento) where my Body and Soul conference was. They kept me busy all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Luke and Daddy had a lot of quality time. They went to the Sacramento zoo, a dog park (with no dogs), the pet store, the mall play land, went swimming, ate at several different places, and they visited me at the workshop.

*Sidenote: Quote from Kyle, "I think I'll do something in the next Olympics. I haven't decided what. Maybe kayaking. Or sprint biking. Have you seen their legs? They're huge!"

I did 6 long workouts during the time there. We were operating on Central time, because we didn't think messing with Luke's schedule for just a week was worth it, but being in Sacramento, they, of course, were operating on Pacific time. Needless to say, going to bed at 11:30 to midnight our time and waking up at 6:45-7 wore me out as well. Luke did really good on our vacation over all, but he doesn't sleep as well in his pack n play. His naps (two a day) were always 30 min. and he was waking up at 7 instead of his more normal 8...

We're home now and working on getting back to our old schedule. He slept til 8:30 yesterday and 8 this morning and has been sleeping an hour for 2 naps with a short 3rd one...except today when he refused to take his third nap.

Dr. Visit

We went to the pediatricians today for Luke's 9 month check up. He's in the 25% for height at 27 1/2 inches and the 10% for weight at 17lbs 8oz. Dr. Stephens said he thought he looked great, and I have to say, I agree.

I *heart* CVS

I know I said the next blog would be Friday, or shortly thereafter, but I just couldn't wait. I don't think I've ever been so proud of myself in my entire life.

Some of you may know, I keep up with the blog Baby Cheapskate. It keeps me up to date on sales for all things baby. Most of the posts aren't things that interest me, but the one that does is the weekly Best Diaper/Formula deals of the week post. Every week I know where Pampers are on sale and if it's a stockup opportunity or not, and if there are coupons to go with the sale or not. Due to this blog, I haven't paid more than $0.22/diaper in a long time. Yay me for saving money in this gas forsaken world! One week I learned that diapers were on sale--stockup opportunity--at CVS, and you would even receive Extra Bucks back (which is like a gift card for certain amounts of money that expire within a few weeks). So I went and bought and got my extra care card. Since then, following several links Baby Cheapskate has posted, I have begun following more money saving blogs, and coupon blogs. One of my favorites Frugonomics 101 is a great coupon clipper and uses those coupons in conjunction with sales from different stores. Every week when the new CVS sale flyer comes out she posts different scenarios, where she has bought XY&Z for only pennies OR made money with Extra Care Bucks.

These posts have led me to try some of my own budget crunching shopping extraveganzas at CVS. The first time, I saved a lot of money. This time. Well, lets just say I'm a master. Or at least was this time.

Off I went to CVS last night after Luke was asleep armed with their weekly flyer and a bazillion coupons that I had printed off the internet over the past few weeks. I made 3 transactions. I bought things that were only on sale, that I had a coupon for, got Extra Bucks back for, and were items that I buy regularly anyway.


I got 6 boxes of General Mills cereal, 4 boxes of Reduced Fat Wheat Thins, 2 packs of pantyliners, 2 packages of Double Stuff Oreos, 2 9oz cans of Cashews, and 1 big Softsoap Spa bodywash. Here's the best part. I only paid $16.51 plus I got $3.98 back in Extra Bucks to use on whatever in the next month. So really I paid only $12.53. !!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE.

Busy busy terribly busy...

Luke is...always, and we have been, too! First Doug, JoAnn and Jimmy! stopped by and visited us for a few hours last Sunday. They were on their way to Nebraska by way of the largest ball of twine and the geographical center of the 48 states, so they stopped by on their way to Ponca City. We waited for Luke to wake up from his nap and then we headed to Pops for supper. They decided it was something. We had a nice afternoon/early evening and then they headed out.

This past Thursday we had Brandon and Shanna Hayes over for Shanna's birthday. It seems as though we don't see anyone as much as we used to since Luke was born (I'm thinking most of you can relate to that) so it's always good times when they come over.

Saturday evening Johnny, Cindy, Damian, and Isaac Sandoval came over for supper and to play baseball in the yard. Damian had been looking forward to that. This was the first time Luke was really into the boys and wanted to be by them and with them. It was so sweet to see...and FUN! He just kept looking at Isaac and laughing and the boys brought toys for him to play with and they made a little tent and they all 3 got inside... It's hard for me to describe how it made me feel to watch him playing with our friends' kids. I guess just something I'd really been anxiously awaiting and wanting and didn't even really know it. I suppose he's fulfilled one of my dreams for him! Well done, Luke!! hahaha. Johnny also brought his camera and got some great shots of Luke. He's so good. We're having him take 1 year pictures of Luke. I can hardly wait.

Later that night Doug, JoAnn and Jimmy! arrived and they spent the night on their way back through to Houston. We stayed up until 1am talking to them. It was nice to get caught up and just hang out. We decided that we'd go to the late service that way they could see Luke a little more (his naps were cramping his bonding time with his aunt)...and not having to wake up early was nice, too! Then we realized that Luke eats at 11, the same time as second service so we skipped church!! and we liked it! gasp. We'll be there for sure this Sunday.

Kyle's mom and Hap arrived Tuesday early afternoon and spent the night. We went to Pops with them as well for supper. It's the thing to do when you come visit us. If you haven't been, well it's something to look forward to. That and the NBA team we're getting! Luke loved his Grandma Binky and Grandpa Hap and they, of course, loved him. They hadn't seen him since Christmas, so they we're needing a fix. Hap and Vicki were en route home from their vacation to Montana (just outside of Helena) and they had lots of beautiful pictures to show us. Montana is nicer to look at than Oklahoma. *sigh* They babysat Luke Wednesday morning while I was at Body and Soul and then headed out to spend the day with Grandpa Wilbur and Georgeanne. Wednesday evening we all went out to eat for a last Hurrah before they headed home.

Our baby gates for the stairs came in. We got two gates, one for the top and one for the bottom, two small extender kits (because our stairs are wider than normal), 2 banister kits, and 2 spindle kits (because of the way the stairs are, there isn't dry wall to attach them to). We almost had to take a second mortgage, but we managed somehow. Gates are expensive. But, like Michael said, much better than picking up a crying baby at the bottom of the stairs.

The next few weeks appear to be a little slower around here. Luke does turn nine months! old next week and has a trip to the pediatrician on Friday. I don't think he has any shots this time. I'll probably post after the doctor visit with his new "stats".

Photo Montage