11 Months Old!!!

This is it...the last "happy month day" before the big 1!  I can hardly believe it!  Zack is still not walking, I know I have been saying for months that he is ready and I continue to feel that he is...he just would rather crawl.  Every week the nursery workers tell me "he almost took a step".  My big eater is not enjoying food (other than grapes, bananas and graham crackers) as much as he was.  It is really frustrating for me but I am trying to keep it together because the last thing I want to do is turn meal time into an unpleasant experience.  I have read books and blogs and message boards about the subject and the verdict is as long as they aren't losing energy (which he isn't) as long as they are growing (which he is...people often guess 14 to 18 months old) as long as they seem happy (the nursery worker today mentioned that she LOVED his laugh and missed him 2 weeks ago when we played hookie) and as long as he has formula, water, juice and some food (he loves his watered down juice and still takes 2 bottles a day and I swear we keep Lowes Foods in business with my banana purchases alone) they will be ok.  Every once and a while he eats adult sized meals, the other day he had and loved Mac and Cheese...every once and a while he will eat a grilled cheese or toast with jam.  I offer several different things to him but we usually end up giving him a banana. 
For the past couple months we have been on a pretty nice schedule.  Zack wakes up around 7 plays for a bit and eats cheerios and fruit for breakfast around 9 he gets an 8 oz bottle and goes down for a nap sometime after.  He wakes up around 10:30 for more play time.  We have lunch around 11:30 and play some more.  He takes his second nap around 2 and wakes up around 3.  Dinner is at 5 and at 6 we start to wind down with an episode of Sesame Street.  I have to say this is my favorite time because it is the only time he will cuddle.  He takes a bath 15 min into the show has a bottle and goes to bed at 7.
Here are some photographic highlights:

First Snow

I LOVE this face

Showing his friend how to play in the ball pit

 

yummm Cheerios



Finger Paint Fail

I found a recipe for homemade finger paints on pinterest.  Since it was made from average baking items it was safe if eaten.  I decided that a cold day in would be fun to try something new.  He is young but it's finger painting...and he loves paper. 
I made the paint.

I laid down newspaper and covered the high chair in plastic.

I stripped Zack down to his diaper and got ready for the fun mess that was about to happen.

I put the paint in my hand and squished some between his fingers and showed him what to do.

In the end I had a painting I basically made myself, an unhappy baby,

a floor full of clean newspapers and a high chair covered in clean trash bags.

What did Zack get out of the whole experience?

A daytime bath.

Cashing in my Super Bowl winnings...

Neither Adam or I really cared who won the Super Bowl...to be honest I don't really ever care.  Adam said he was rooting for the Pats, so I said I would root for the other team.  Adam and I like to make bets...sometimes for just for bragging rights but this time we decided the winner could pick the movie we would watch for our date night on Saturday.  Adam was talking smack through out most of the game until the Giants made an accidental touchdown (apparently they really wanted to wait to run down the clock and not actually score).
I teased Adam about making him see The Vow but lucky for him my college friend came the weekend before and saw it with me.  We ended up seeing One For The Money and going to eat at Red Lobster. 
It was a nice night.  Zachary got to spend time with his Grammy and I got a haircut and spent some time with my husband.

Z Man in the Snow

For some reason I didn't sleep well on Sunday night, and Zack woke up at 6:00 am.  I really wanted to take him outside, I went back and forth and finally decided it would be much better to stay inside in my pajamas where it's nice and warm.  As soon as I made that decision I knew it was wrong.  I just knew if I didn't at least get a picture of him in the snow I might kick myself later.  So I raced to get dressed (because the snow was almost gone) and threw athletic pants over Zack's Pj's and bundled him up (which made him extremely happy as you can guess).
As soon as I put him down in the snow this is what happened:

He really liked it!

 

I think he liked the cold

 

Guess what he did with that snow on his mitten...

He ate it...I wish I got a shot of the suprised look on his face.  I don't think he has ever tasted anything so cold.  He must have liked it because he took a second lick.

 

Key Hook

Because the tracing numbers thing was so easy and worked so well on my growth chart...and because I happened to see this piece of wood:

and our keys are currently hanging on a hook I found when we moved but don't have to right screws for and always falls off the walls...

I decided to make something a little nicer (difficult task...I know).

you can see the indents

 

The date on the bottom was tiny and hard to paint...

I touched it up a lot...and I figured it didn't have to be perfect because I planned on sanding it down to give it a more rustic "pottery barn".
I added the hooks and a hanging piece on the back and voila...

Growth Chart

This is officially my first completed Pinterest project...notice I said finished.  I have a problem, whenever I go get supplies for one project I get inspired for others and I get so excited about the new project I start the new one before I am fnished with the origional.  The positive is I tend to finish my projects at around the same time so I will be posting a lot of DIY posts in the next week or so.
I saw this project on Pinterest:

 I liked the idea...I just wanted mine to be a "I can put it anywhere in whatever house we live in and something my 15 year old will only hate being measured agenst a little bit verses a ton because it's for little kids". 
I painted the wood gray (3 coats...about 7 min each side over 4 nap times and two days). 

Then (another idea I saw on Pinterest) I printed out numbers...

and traced them with a ball point pen, which left a dent...

and made it super easy to paint...notice I piced some whimsical numbers that would be pretty forgiving.

Here is a close up:

Oh...the other change I made was making it 7 ft. (including the foot before the board starts...Zack is already tall and Adam is over 6 ft so I figured it was a safe bet.

I bought the "M" and painted it just to make it a little more personal.

Such a great weekend I forgot to take pictures!

My best friend from college, my maid of honor and my current best friend (even though I don't see her often...this is how you know it's a good friend, you are super close even though you only see them a few times a year) came to visit us and meet Zack.  I haven't seen her in two years!
I loved hanging out with her, we ate, we watched the Vow, we drank margaritas, and we talked about the good ol' days.  We realized that she visited around our 10 year anniversary.  We met Feb. 2002 during sorority rush and joined the same sorority, neither of us knew anyone else in our pledge class and we were put in alphabetical order a lot...basically we didn't have a choice but to be best friends.  Happy 10 years!

Green and White Lightening Chicken Chili {Updated With Recipe}

This week I made what Rachael Ray called White Lightening Green Chicken...or something like that (I mean I am comfy on the couch and the book is all the way on the shelf).

It was pretty good.  Rachael wanted me to cube the chicken and watch it on the stove...

I threw all the ingredients (unmeasured because RR and I feel the same way about measuring) in the crock put and shredded the chicken.  Since I used the crock pot it obviously took more than 30 min...but the crock pot did all the hard work so I was OK with that. 
It was pretty awesome and left two more dinners for each of us!
Per Request...the Recipe:
2 Tbl veggie oil (I didn't use since I threw it in crock pot)
6 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces (Didn't cut either)
salt and pepper
1 med. yellow onion
5 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper seeded and chopped (I used 4 and left seeds in...we like it spicy)
2 Tbl ground cumin
1 Tbl ground coriander
1 cup mild or hot tomatillo salsa (we used hot...and I just threw in the whole jar)
4 cups chicken stock or broth (this made it more like soup you could use less)
1 handful fresh cilantro
1 handful fresh parsley
shredded Monterrey or Pepper Jack cheese
Corn Chips

Rachael wants you to cook the chicken chunks in a pot then add the jalapeno, garlic and dried herbs cook for a little while and add the salsa cook for a little then add the chicken stock (adding the fresh herbs right before taking off the stove).  Top with corn chips and cheese.
I threw frozen chicken and everything else (except fresh herbs cheese and chips) in the crock pot cooked it on high for 5 hours shredded the chicken and cooked it on low for an hour. 

Menu Board, Chalkboard and Family Binder

I had been pinning menu boards on pinterest forever...so many of them required a lot of work.  The reason I was doing this was to make my life easier...not to have a huge project (trust me I have several other big projects going on).  The board I fell in love with used magnetic printer paper and a pre made calendar white board. 

I just typed in our favorite meals (others can be written in) and printed it out.  Here is the website for the template.

 My chalk board...painted frame...canvas with chalkboard paint.  I decided to do this after seeing it at a friends house with a monthly verse.

 It came in handy this month!

7 x 7 Award

This is an award (I'll call it an honor) that my cousin in law Devan sent me a couple weeks ago.  Basically it's something new to blog about (since if you read my blog lately it seems like I spend all my time in the kitchen cooking or playing with Z-man...oh wait...that is what I do all day every day). 
1. Thank the person who sent you the award:  Thanks Devan! 
Devan is married to my husbands cousin, although I remember meeting her when we were both just dating these boys...now we are married with kids...CRAZY!  Check out her blog here.
2. Share 7 things about yourself:
          1) I am an unlicensed travel agent!  My husband and I lived in China for 18 months and in that time we traveled to Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, New York, Vietnam, Shanghai, Japan, Bali, Australia, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Yangshou.  I planned all these trips using Trip Advisor and my various travel books down to where we would eat each meal...which was very important while I was pregnant. 
          2) I may be the only mother in the world who can't wait until her kid grows up...meanwhile I miss the little baby that used to snuggle with me.  The kindergarten teacher in me can't wait to do fun holiday crafts and take trips to the Zoo with my kids...sorry in advance Z for putting you through this and a double sorry to Z's teachers who will hear "I already did this at home" from my kid.
          3) I am a DIYer.  I hate spending obscene amounts of money on things I can do myself...do I always do them? no...do the supplies sometimes cost more? maybe but it's more fun to do it yourself.  Thank you Pinterest for adding about a million projects to my to do list.  Right now I am working on a growth chart and a menu board and a family binder and my son's first birthday which is over a month away...
          4) I am very skilled at haggling in the Chinese markets...the Chinese girls were always very impressed.  Plus when you reach a certain level they take you to the back where the best copy designer stuff is kept.
          5) I have an addiction to post-it's...is it hard for anyone else to walk buy the beautifully colored sticky notes without picking up a few?
          6) I order the same thing at restaurants because I know if I veer from my norm I may like what I eat but I will always wish I had gotten the ____ (Chimicanga at Mexican Restaurants, Green Curry at Thai, Turkey Sammi at Quiznos, Orange Peel Chicken at PF Changs etc...).
          7) I love grocery shopping and my new life as a couponer has made trips to buy food soooooo much more exciting!
3. Share 7 of your blog posts in the following categories:
Most Beautiful: Pregnancy Perk That Deserves it's Own Entry This one may not be the most "beautiful" now...I mean pregnant lady sitting alone at a street cafe chowing down on Thai food?  This was the most beautiful moment in my life as a pregnant lady.
Most Helpful: Videos From Sydney Adam was super helpful to the street performer.
Most Popular: My Little Jumping Bean... This one wins hands down since my Grandma mentioned she watches it over and over...I have to admit this is on of my favorite videos.
Most Controversial: Throwing in the towel... This one may not be controversial, but when you have nursing issues you kind of feel alone and (maybe it's the post pregnancy hormones) I was super sensitive about what anyone said so in my head this was the most controversial.
Most Surprisingly Successful: We Survived...Our Travel Story 5 month old baby + manual breast pump + 22 hours of travel = potential for a lot of "future funny stories"  Thankfully there was nothing major to share
Most Underrated: Too Ugly To Prostitute...Too Stupid to Steal surprisingly this was the post about my real feelings about our arrival in Huizhou and not about a prostitute and a robber.
Most Pride worthy: Like Most Things in America Our Baby Was Made In China Do you know how hard it was to keep this secret for so long?!?  I was running out of reasons to tell my mom why I looked tired and sick everyday on Skype.

4. Nominate other blogs
******Since I am already way behind I will add to this after I ask some of my favorite bloggers!

5. Add a photo:

"why do you always take pictures of me while I eat?"

Couponing Week 2

This has bee an AMAZING week of couponing.  I loved watching the cashier scan all my groceries and watching the cost go up and up...and then I hand the coupons over and the price goes way down!
This week Lowes Foods had "super doubles" meaning not only did they double coupons under $1...they doubled coupons up to $1.98! 
Here is what I got:

I paid $14.74 for all of the above...the only things I didn't buy with coupons or on sale was the pasta sauce and the bananas.  The rolls were under a dollar and will last Adam and I for three meals.  The gum was .33 each.  The cake mix and frosting was under a dollar (total) and will be used for Z-man's b-day.  With this shop I saved almost $20!

I also did well at Harris Teeter:

I think I have fulfilled my Pillsbury need for the rest of my life...I did make a rookie mistake, I thought the croissants were on sale but the store brand ones were and the labels at the store were sort of messed up.  I still did well,  the cookies were about 9 cents, the frozen green beans were 19 cents...my savings don't seem amazing as a total because I bought strawberries, grapes, blueberries and some noodle bowls and milk which I didn't have coupons for.  I saved almost $42 just under 50%.

And I went to CVS:

This was last weeks shop and I made 2 transactions.  The first transaction I bought the NyQuil and the nature fusion (normally about $9 each) for a total of $8.81 plus I got $3 in extra care cash which I used on the rest of he items.  This trip should have cost me about $42.  I paid under $19.  I was never one to get protein shakes but now that I don't get lunch every day they give me a little "boost" until Z takes a nap and I can make a sandwich.

This week I got this for just over $4 when one pizza usually costs around $4!

and made a second trip to Lowes Foods:

I paid a total of $14.95 when I should have paid over $40!  The Capri Suns were free (and a great drink for kids that come to Z-man's b-day) V8 Splash (my favorite juice) were $1.50 each, the eggs were $1.25 oh and they paid me 50 cents to take the water out of there.

Oh and...those noodle bowls I bought BOGO without a coupon had a coupon in the box so I went back just to get a couple more with the coupons while they were still BOGO:

The original cost was $4 each...I paid $2.04 with taxes!  I love when the check out person makes a comment about how much I saved!  And, no, Adam did not finish the other noodle bowls I just stole the coupon out of them.

Most of what I bought is good meals for when Adam works late...when he works really late he doesn't like a heavy meal so the noodle bowls are perfect and now that Z-man eats real food the Mac and Cheese are perfect for the nights when it's just the two of us...plus it's an upgrade from the boxed mac and cheese.  I still buy meat in bulk from BJ's and I was really proud of myself when Adam asked for cold medicine and I had some in the cabinet (usually we buy the medication after we feel sick).  Starting today Harris Teeter is having Super Doubles (don't worry I am not going crazy...just picking up a few things).

Meet a new Couponer!

That would be me!
I took a class on Tuesday and organized the coupons in this cute new binder on Wednesday.

all you need to coupon...newspaper inserts, remote control, and a drink...oh and the phone near by so you don't mess up your piles racing to answer it.

Thursday I tried my hand at couponing like a pro.

I bought the pre made binder because they recommend zipper (in case you drop it the coupons won't fly away) and the dividers were all included along with the coupon page protectors.  As much as I was excited about going to Staples and making it myself this was much easier, the same price and the binder has a strap.

The teacher of my class suggested starting off small by picking up a couple things using coupons matched with sales and store policies.  I decided not to bring my binder...I really wanted to take it easy and I was nervous about walking the store with a binder...plus I knew it would take a long time and I wanted to see how Zack would do with our longer than normal trip.
Here is what I got:

The breakdown:
What I would have paid at full price
             Emerald Nuts x4 $29.96
             Colgate Toothpaste $2.89
             Pace Salsa x2 $5.58
Total: $38.43
What I would have paid with store discounts:
            Emerald Nuts x4 $15.48
            Colgate Toothpaste $1
            Pace Salsa x2 $4
Total: $20.48...Not bad, but here is what I actually paid:
            Emerald Nuts x4 $12.48
            Colgate Toothpaste $0 (FREE)
            Pace Salsa $2.50
Total: $14.98
A savings of almost 50%
If I was a more seasoned couponer I would have had more salsa and toothpaste coupons and stocked up (especially the toothpaste).  I don't plan on hording but I do like the idea of stocking up on a few of the things we use all the time.  Would I have bought these items without coupons?  Nuts...no...they are too expensive but I figured I could allow a treat at under $4 a can.  Meanwhile Adam loves his new snack.  Salsa...yes...but the Walmart brand which is pretty good but I would have spent more.  Colgate...maybe I usually buy what sticks out to me.  I can't wait to add to my coupon stock and see what other amazing deals I can find.