Pics from family camp

The Butterfly Pavilion

The monarch butterfly cacoons

Cleaning the closet

I was putting towels away this morning and decided my hall closet needed a major overhaul. So I pulled everything out and got rid of two sheet sets I've had since highschool and now have room for everything. Plus I tried to fold it a little more nicely. How do you fold a fitted sheet anyways? Got any suggestions or tricks?

Fun in his new sandbox

First trip to Wendy's

10 Months

Kyle you are 10 months old today. Here's what you're doing.

You weighed 15.6 lb at your Dr. appt 3 weeks ago and were 28 in long.

You wear size 9 month and some 12 month clothes and are in size 3 diapers and size 2 shoes

You have 5 teeth (3 on top, 2 on bottom) with another top one on the way

You went swimming in grandma's pool this month already and loved it. We bought you a fund little floating thing that you have fun in.

We also stopped giving you purees, and you got sick of finger foods like just cooked vegggies so we moved on to real food! I think you were just bored and wanted more flavors. Your favorite thing for breakfast is whole wheat waffles with yogurt and blueberries. You also like lasagna, cheese noodles, and today I made you an almond butter and applesauce sandwich you loved! We were going to try and not give you wheat or corn till your b-day since both your grandma's have allergies to them but you just wanted more food so we let you try bread and other things and so far you seem ok. You also liked the yummy omelet daddy made the other morning.

You can walk only holding on to one of our hands which is prety cool.

You have been saying "mama" more and can say "dada" when you want to.

You are getting so big. You are getting more hair and everyone comments on how you look like a little boy now and not a baby.

We love you Kyle Bug .

With your grandma before she leaves for vacation (she wanted a picture so you don't forget her)

Eating Lasagna. Yum!

With your best buddy Brandon and the museum

Saving Money on Groceries

A discussion on one of my friend's facebook page prompted me to write a post about good buys on groceries. I know this will only be helpful for those of you who have these stores in their area so sorry if this doesn't apply to you. I thought it would be helpful to organize this by food type.

Produce- (I don't feel the need to buy organic produce because I wash everything with veggie wash.) Sunflower Market by far has the best produce and the best sale prices. I've tried Farmer's Market, and though they have good prices their quality isn't the best. I won't even try the grocery store anymore. I do like to buy peaches and cherries from Costco when they are in season because even though they are expensive they are the sweetest and juiciest things you will ever put in your mouth.

Meat and Seafood- Costco has great quality meat and their prices aren't too bad but I really prefer to buy no hormone meat. Sunflower is the best place for this because everything is all natural. You can get 93% lean ground beef for $2.99/lb or less on a good sale. Chicken breasts can be as low as $1.99/lb on a sale. They have steak on sale regularly too. I do tend to buy my seafood (aka cod and salmon) frozen at Costco, it is packaged well and tastes good.

Canned Goods, condiments, baking goods, etc.- I buy all this at Super Walmart unless there is a good sale. You can get soup for a decent price at Costco. I get a huge bag of semi-sweet choco chips at Costco for $9 when the small bags at the store are $4. They have the Gherardelli brand during the holidays so I stock up on those.

Cereal- Costco is the place. You get two bags per box for $6-$8 depending on the type. They have a good variety. You can't beat the price on oatmeal (instant packages) either.

Milk- Prices change frequently at Costco but I get it for $1.89/gal. They come in 2 gal. increments so make sure you can drink that much first. I would like to buy hormone free milk but it is 3 times the price.

Eggs- I buy one dozen range-free eggs at Sunflower for $1.99

Cheese- NO WHERE beats the prices at Costco. You can get a large block of mozz. or colby/jack and Costco for $3-$4 and that hardly buys you a small block at the store. I also will buy a pre-shredded bag at Costco for burritos and nachos for a good price.

Papergoods and plastic bags- I am not partial to any brand so I get Kirkland brand at Costco and it is much cheaper. You can get 12 rolls of paper towels for $16. I buy all my trash bags and plastic sandwhich bags here too.

Diapers and wipes- I buy Up & Up from Target. I like how they work and I can get 92 size 3's for $13 and change and I find coupons too. Wipes are a good deal at Costco and they are great quality I have never tried their diapers but they are just a little more than Up & Ups.

Toiletries- If Costco carries your razor blades they are ususally cheaper and last for a year or more. Shaving cream is usually about the same between Costco and Walmart. We buy the Kirkland Brand shampoo and conditioner and it's like $6 for two huge massive bottles and it lasts well over a year. You can get a good deal on OTC medicines too. I have to add that you won't beat Costco's prices on tampons and pads either. I am particular to Playtex and Always and that's what they carry.

Some tips
Costco-They send out coupons for name brand items, but watch out because even with the discount is still more than their own Kirkland Brand usually. Make sure when you buy in bulk you will use it up before it expires or split the quantity with a friend! Just because it's in bulk doesn't mean it's cheaper so bring a calculator and know your prices of items from other stores!
Sunflower Market- Wed. is double ad day! Get two weeks worth of sales on one day! It is also the busiest day of the week I think. Check the dates on the sale tags...sometimes things will be on sale for weeks or months so don't think you have to stock up right then.

Another design girl giveaway

This time it's for a custom blog design! I hope I win! You can go enter to win too!

My "First" Mother's Day

Wow...my first mother's day. Remember what I posted last year on Mother's Day?
I thought I would take the time to tell you all when I knew I wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom.

When I was about 11 years old one of my mom's good friends had her third child- a girl. We would get together with their family alot and I often saw the mom feeding the little baby a bottle. One day I decided to ask if I could try. It then became my new favorite thing. A few months went by and the little girl got older and I started going over to help watch her and take care of her as her mom was really busy with the other two kids. When the little baby girl was dedicated at church I was asked to be her godmother, and I was thrilled! I loved this little baby girl so much.

The mom ended up going through a rough time so my family and some other families helped take care of the kids. This was hard for the little girl and I became one of the only people she would want to hold her. I remember this made me feel so special. I also remember how I loved to take care of her and change her and play with her and get her up from her naps. It was almost like a babydoll but so much better because they could actually love you back. After a while our families grew apart and I didn't get to be apart of the little girl's life anymore and I always missed it but I knew that I wanted to have a baby of my own like that someday who would love me and I would love him/her back.

Kyle I am so happy to be your mommy and that I get to spend all day with you. I love to make you laugh and I love your fun personality that is starting to show through. You are such a sweet boy, I love you so much!

I don't do the SUYL much but this week it was all about names. I don't know If I have ever explained on this blog about how we named Kyle but it is a pretty special God-given name so I thought I would share today.

When we first found out we were pregnant I asked Ben if he wanted a Ben Jr. but he's wasn't thrilled...LOL so we had to think up a name and this is what we chose.

Kyle Thomas
Kyle-I have always like this name and so has Ben. It has a special place for both our families.

Ben's parents named him Kyle before he was born...his mom even had a little teddy bear with a t-shirt on that says Kyle. Well that is obviously not his name. When he was born his parents looked at his sweet little face and realized he was not a Kyle...he looked like a Ben.

My parents chose not to find out the sex of their second child who turned out to be a girl, my sister Leslie. But they had a boy name picked out...you guess it...Kyle.

Thomas is my dad's first name and since he doesn't have any sons and he's just such an awesome dad we wanted to honor him in this way.

I won't share our girls names we were thinking of because I want to save those in case we have a girl next.

Kyle seems to be taking after his dad's side of the family. Sorry the video is so dark.

Design Girl Lisa Leonard giveaway

I LOVE Lisa Leonard's designs and have always wanted one of her custom necklaces. Visit the Design Girl's Blog for a chance to win! If you win let me know! If I win I will let you know!

A day at the zoo

I've been having fun with all the new Photoshop actions I downloaded. Thanks Michelle for telling me about them! Here is the fun I had with them from our pictures at the zoo yesterday.

Breastfeeding an older baby

I was at the gym today and was asked by a lady in my class, who's a fellow mom, if I was still breastfeeding. I of course said "yes" and she was impressed, and then asked if I gave him formula too. When I said "no" she was rather surprised, especially at the fact that he doesn't use a bottle anymore...Why is that???

I know breastfeeding is hard, but why do people act so shocked or like it's a bad thing if your baby is still breastfed after 6 months? It's like the next question in their mind is, "Are you going to wean them at a year?". As if, I would let my kid be one of those 4 year olds who can come lift mom's shirt and ask for milk.

It makes me wonder if most moms don't set out to be successful at breastfeeding in the first place? Like they all expect to fail. That is so sad to me. I set out with the intention of nursing Kyle till a year. I almost gave up many times and had to supplement for a short time around 5 months but I pressed on and am so proud of all I have accomplished.

I really wish more moms would be optimistic about breastfeeding and start with the mindset that they will succeed. Yes things happen outside of their control that prevent them from continuing, but many moms just give up. I try to encourage all my friends who are breastfeeding to continue on even when it get's tough. I've thought about studying to become a lactation consultant...do you think I would make a good one?

Watermelon

This is Kyle's view of watermelon...

Kyle's favorite time with daddy

Every morning Kyle get's to take a shower with daddy. It's his favorite thing. It's daddy's favorite thing too because it's the only time Kyle is cuddly. The rest of the time he barely sits still long enough to get his diaper changed (lately this involves me strapping him to the changing table or holding him down with my leg while I get his diaper on). Daddy took some pictures of Kyle on Saturday after his shower while mommy was at pilates.