Wow, it's been a while. Life is good and I believe I have completely recovered from the sheer sleep-deprived horror that was Giving Birth and The Month That Followed. So much so that I have begun to actually entertain the idea of possibly having another child sometime in the next 15 years or so.

My baby is now five months old and the most social little guy you've ever seen. He loves loves loves people and has the biggest smile ever. We are completely in love with him. He is incredibly active and strong, loves scooting around on his tummy, and is almost strong enough to sit up on his own. Noelle didn't grow up nearly this fast and it's a bit shocking. He's a completely different baby! We've recently mastered the "fall asleep on your own" technique and while it's rather convenient, I confess I miss all of the sleepy snuggle time. Now that he's such a big boy, he does NOT appreciate Mama's attempts to cuddle him. He's also recently mastered the art of the two hour nap. Yay, Baby Vi!! (I like this picture but his scowl is rather uncharacteristic)

Noelle is 2.5 now and a pure delight. She has an enormous vocabulary and talks non-stop when she's around people she's comfortable with. She adores her cousins and her best buddy Emma from church. She got to go to VBS a couple of weeks ago and LOVED it. She loves to sing and cook and read and do art projects and is a total parrot. We have to watch what we say because chances are, we'll be hearing it again. Lately she's been frequently asking us to "talk about Jesus" and that makes her Mama and Daddy very happy.


Ryan just got hired on as tenure-track faculty at the local community college. It was a very competitive process and he had the unanimous support of all parties involved in the hiring process. He loves what he does and is very good at it. I'm so proud of him and happy to see him succeed at something that he enjoys.

I'm loving being at home with my kids, although I'm finding myself busier with outside activities than I'd like. We've been going and doing a little bit too much lately, and I'm making an effort to scale down  and spend more days at home. It's good for the kids, especially Levi, to have more of that. I'm really trying hard to make home a happy, peaceful place for all of us, and it takes time to accomplish that. Here's a picture of me taken about a month before Levi was born . . . can you see why I was ready to be done with pregnancy for a while??? I still had a month to go!

Here's a couple of pictures from a recent trip to Monterey with my in-laws. We had a great time!

Recently, thanks to my sister-in-law Lindy, I've started to get more serious about this whole coupon/money saving game. Up until now, my money saving strategies have had to do with shopping at the cheapest stores, planning affordable menus, and eating what's on sale. Now I'm having fun reading different money saving blogs and learning how to use coupons and sales to save even more money and get stuff for free. Yesterday I got a whole cart full of groceries for about $35, and as satisfying as that was, I know I could do even better if we started getting the newspaper again so I could clip more coupons.

Thanks to a friend, I recently learned a great way to save money on disposable diapers. We use cloth 90% of the time, but for overnights and certain outings, we do use disposables, and I hate paying for them. With this strategy, I just paid under $25 for 6 jumbo packs of diapers. Here's the deal:

-Go to www.diapers.com. If you use mypoints.com or ebates or any of those other sites, use their link for added points.
-Select the diapers you want, totaling to at least $50. I got 5 packs of Luvs and 1 pack of Pampers Swadders to bring my total to just over $50. Be sure to check the box to apply a $1 coupon discount for any Pampers you buy.
-Enter code JANEENOEL as your referrer. I will get a credit for referring you and you will save $10 instantly.
-After your diapers arrive, print this rebate form and mail in with proof of purchase for a $14.97 rebate.

If you know of any better diaper deals, let me know!

He arrived Wednesday, January 28, at 9:10 AM. 9 lbs, 8 oz, 21 inches long.



We are blissfully happy and utterly exhausted. More pictures and details can be found here.

Noelle just woke up (she's a gloriously late sleeper these days) and is in her crib yelling out whatever is on her mind.

"Boooer! Mama, BOOOER!!" (booger. . . she has recently mastered the art of picking her nose)

"Oh, no!! Bear Button!!" (much to my chagrin, she wants every toy to make noise when she pushes on it, and she's quite disappointed that the "button" on her bear doesn't do anything)

(crashing noises) "No books! No books on bed!!" (I'm thinking she dropped a book out of her crib)

"no, no, no, no" (could be anything)

(whining sounds)

"Light ON, Mama!! Mommy!! Mommy!! Light ON!"

"Out, peas. Out, peas. Out peas. No, no, no, no, no. Hurry! Hurry! I wanna READ!!!"

I think I'd better go get her up.

This is making me laugh, especially the "Obama Sale" ad.

Can I just say how glad I am that the election is over??