Heart on My Sleeve

Experiments, Experiences, etc. . .. .

Do you sense a theme here?  How bout extreme????

The time is here.  I knew it was going to catch up with me.  This is one of our most costly times of the year (next to Nov. - Jan. and May).  Not only is it "back to school" time, which of course entails new EVERYTHING (shoes, socks, underwear, uniforms, school supplies, backpacks, etc.), but it is also Ava's birthday week.  Because of this, I consiously held off hosting a couple things that might make me a bit more tempted to spend extra money, such as Bunco (its my turn next month, instead), my MOMS board meeting (ditto on next month), etc. 

However, I still managed to get a full plate on my next couple weeks' schedule, so am going to have to be extra diligent in making sure I don't blow the bank.  EXCEPT . . . .while clipping Nyah's (our blue heeler) nails last night, Brad accidentally clipped too low and had a "bleeder".  We shut her in her cage for an hour to make sure it didn't get anywhere, then let her out for a bit before bedtime.  Apparently, she wasn't done yet.  We woke up this morning to blood spots EVERYWHERE.  The carpet in EVERY room, the furniture, the tile floors.  OMG, EVERYWHERE.  I will be out of town for a memorial service all day tomorrow and am hosting a brunch Wednesday am; so it looks like I get to handle this project today - which apparently means renting a steam cleaner (so much for not breaking the bank) and dodging 3 kids with a steam cleaner all while keeping them off wet carpet for as long as possible.  Does anyone want to trade places with me?

Added to this is the fact that we are out of juice, milk AND water (and pretty much anything else that makes a fairly quick and decent meal), so it looks like a grocery trip is in our very near future.  *as Nyah barks EXCESSIVELY from her cage, as she is STILL bleeding - 15 hours later.*  Anyway, I decided now would be just as good a time as any to try out Save-a-Lot for groceries.  I've been there once or twice before, and wasn't thrilled, but that was before my newfound coupon clipping knowledge was bumped up a notch.  Has anyone ever shopped at a Save-a-Lot before?  If so, how was it?  How were the groceries in comparison to other brands once you ate them?  Any tips?  Do they have steam cleaners?

Chik fil a Dress Like a Cow Day

The kids and I had so much fun today getting ready to eat the best fast food - FOR FREE!  (They didn't even charge us tax.)  When we got there, the manager met us at the door and took pictures - then had me sign a "Model Release Form"!  lol.  Anyway, after all that excitement, we ran a few errands - dressed as cows, mind you -  and came home for a LONG naptime.  Yay, Pierce kids!  Now we're off to 7/11 for free slushies - One more pic for your enjoyment - Happy "Dress Like a Cow Day"!

Updates

So, as many of you know, summer has kicked my collective *insert explitive here*.  I'm rejuvinating as we *speak* and have revamped the blog to show my efforts!  Per your requests, please see MANY new photo albums to your top right --- our experiences as a family over the last 3 months for your viewing enjoyment!  I'll be looking forward to staying better in touch with you all - hang in there with me!  In the meantime, check out my new discovery:  As you can see over the last 2 years of this blog, my pastimes have transitioned from scrapbooking (which I still love and is dear to my heart, but I have absolutely NO time for right now) to BARGAIN shopping!  I'm also experimenting with a few side-jobs in order to prepare our family for the day (in 2 years) that I will be a stay at home mom w/ three kids in elementary school!  I'm preparing now to supplement our income so that I may still volunteer at school functions for all 3 kids, all while bringing in a steady income to the household.  So, hold your breath (or not!  ;)   ) and hang on! 

www.moneysavingmom.com

P.S. The beautiful flower (iris, right?) pictured above is from Grandma and Papa's walkway in Louisiana.  More to follow . . ..

Happy Summer!

xoxo

I've been busy.

and I love them all.  In the absence of much awaited photos, I leave this:

. . .. so sweet when they're sleeping . . .. right?  lol.  This is Collin and his little brother Addison.  He's been spending a lot of time with us lately and the girls have truly taken to him as  "a brother".  Yes, that's good, but when their tempers flair, no, that's not.  lol  Anyway . . . .

we're hanging in there and love them all.

xoxo,

nene and family

Question

Who taught Blair the word "no"?

Doo, doo, do, do, doo do, do, do, do, doooooo

Who's ready to not hear that song when they check in?  * me, me!*

What a long, strange trip its been

The last 3 weeks have been a wirlwind.  As I mentioned before, we're still getting settled in our new house.  Then, the day before my birthday, I got sick.  Like really, YUCKY sick.  I was unable to prepare for our party as a result and we rescheduled for the next week.  Enter last week.  I was STILL sick!  Regardless, we pulled off the party without a hitch.  And, a party it was.  Let me tell you, there's a reason you only turn 30 once.  I've added a photo album to the sidebar for your viewing pleasure.  Don't get your hopes up, though, because halfway thru the party, I lost my camera!  (Only to find it the next day, thank goodness.)  Sunday was a bit slow.  We picked up trash and stayed lazy all day.  Monday, Brad felt bad and he called in to work (which is pretty unusual.)  Tuesday, he felt so bad he went to the ER.  Today is Friday.  He. just. got. home. yesterday.  Its been crazy.  Wonderful friends have yet again stepped up to help us out so that I could spend time with him at the hospital while a doctor and surgeon figured out what was wrong.  For now, they're sticking with a "bacterial infection of the intestines."  Lovely, huh?  We hope to find out more next week with a gastronologist.  Needless to say after the week we just had, I never quite recovered from my bout of strep throat and ear infections and today was diagnosed with sinusitus and bronchitis!  Even more lovely, I know.  I'm just glad I'm not headed to the hospital, because let me tell you, after this week, I would not have been surprised.  I stopped at WalMart on the way home to stock up for the weekend.  We have a 1 year old's birthday party to go to at 4pm Sunday, but other than that, I don't expect any member of the Pierce Clan to head out these doors all weekend.  We've got all the deli sandwiches, canned soup and fresh fruit one can eat - along with $20 worth of Gatorade and water, cause both Brad and I are supposed to "push the fluids." a

The last 3 weeks have been a blur.  The best part that stands out is this:

I was sick on my birthday, so after our playgroup on Monday, my girlfriends took me to luch at my favorite local Mexican restaraunt.  There they surprised me with  . . . . . .. ..

a DIAMOND NECKLACE!  (I think you might be able to see it in the picture above)  It was meant to replace this one.  And let me tell you just how special it is.  Nevermind.  I can't.  I know I say this in almost every post, but I can't tell you enough --- I LOVE my girls!  We're growing to be more and more like family every day.  And we are total proof that "it takes a village."  I don't know where we'd be without them.  Although I'm fairly sure they would have much more time on their hands if it weren't for me and my kids . . . .  lol.  You guys are the best - you know that.  And Jenness, Kirsten, Kim and Katie, thanks again for this week - it really meant a lot that I was able to be by Brad's side thruout this hellacious ordeal.

One last thing, it looks like our baby girl (the older one) WILL in fact be starting school in August.  She did miserably at her evaluation yesterday and pretty much secured her spot in her special 3 year old class.  That's my GIRL!  (Seriously, we do want her to go to school, so its ok that she didn't do that great.  It was nothing we didn't already expect.  But BOY did she show them!  hee hee)

I haven't had time to fix red-eye and crop pics and all that good stuff, but I hope you'll still enjoy the few pics I've uploaded.  The above picture is Sandie, myself and Katie.  I wish I had more of everyone else . ..  We'll have to get them the next time!  (Although the party will NOT be at our house.)

xoxo

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It all started out innocently enough.  Brad went up to Tennessee with his dad to do some work on the house his sister just bought.  He left at 5am Sunday morning.  I'll admit, I was extremely apprehensive about him leaving me home alone for 1 whole week with 2+ kids and was quite worried as to how I would manage that many nights without an adult coming home in the evening to enlighten me on what's going on in the "outside" world.

Sunday was fine.  I packed up the kids and actually got the four of us ready and to church along with the breakfast I had to bring to  Sunday school ON TIME.  That was exciting.  We then went to a birthday party at "Fluff It and Stuff It".  Those of you familiar with "Build a Bear" know exactly what this is - the generic version.  The kids - all 3 of them - had the time of their lives.  We left with 2 new "pets" and were all exhausted when we got home. 

Monday went off without a hitch - pretty much.  I felt a little "off".  My back hurt and I was fighting a little UTI, but the girls and I did okay and had a quiet day.

Tuesday was a completely different story.  We had an appointment about 20 minutes away at 10am.  We made it and finished.  By this time my back was hurting severely enough that I knew I needed to see a doctor.  They made my appointment at 2pm.  The girls and I went to Chile's for lunch to kill time between appointments and had a good lunch.  When lunch was over I was teary-eyed from the pain but only had 2 more hours to go before the dr., so decided to plop them into a cart at Target and waste some time there.  We'd been there about 15 minutes when Ava started screaming.  She was holding up her finger and blood was dripping everywhere.  She had cut it on a clothing fixture in the children's dept.  (And, No, I did not see which one, or how, or why --- as I told the manager repeatedly).  Oddly enough, they do not have a first aid kit at Customer Service in Target, so while employees ran around frantically looking for band-aids and hydrogen peroxide, I took the girls to the restroom to wash off Ava's hand.  A manager met me there with peroxide, bandaids and Neosporin off the shelf and kindly let me keep them.  After that, of course we had to fill out an Accident Report and my back screamed in pain the whole time.  Ava was an angel thru it all - she barely cried.  By the time we got to the car, I called my friend Amy and literally cried "UNCLE!"  She said, "What?"  I told her that I had given up,  needed to be at the hospital and could she please take the girls?  She accepted them willingly as I hobbled up her walkway to deliver them and she and her husband even came out to the car to get them.  I then drove myself to the ER.

That was all the Bad.  I'm going to skip most of the ugly.  Let's just say that 6 hours later, I left the ER with 2 blown veins (from 3 attempts of inserting an IV), a blaring kidney and UTI infection and a half-numb body from the pain meds they had administered.  (To which I thank God and the nurses profusely).  My friend Stephanie came to drive me home and our friends Ken and Tammy came to pick my car up and deliver it to the house.  My other girlfriend Kirsten worked in lieu with Amy and between the two of them, they kept the girls overnight so I could come home and sleep off my fancy drug cocktail and let the antibiotics kick in.

Here's the Good.  Despite the fact that Brad has missed ALL of this horrible action, his response has been sweet.  He actually told me, "don't worry about money."  Buy all the medicine, order in all the food, pay someone to watch the girls, do whatever it takes to feel better - and don't worry about the house - I'll fix it when I get home.  WoW.  That's a relief.  Then, there's a different side.  The things I learned.  That you still have to be a mommy when you're sick. The world doesn't stop turning when you're in pain.  We still had appointments to be kept Thursday and Friday.  But the best thing I learned was this:  The place in my heart where I always think of Tennessee as home, but know more and more everyday that home is where I am now.  My friends.  The ones who kept my girls, diapered them, fed them, bathed them, loved them and cared for them as their own - even though they themselves have multiple small children!  The ones who drove my ridiculously dirty car so that I would have it in my driveway when I woke up.  The one who called pharamacies for me, drove me to 2 seperate drive-thrus (because I insisted on a baked potato AND a chocolate shake in my drug-induced stupor) and then walked me into the house and watched me take all my meds so I wouldn't mess them up.  The ones who called to check on me.  The one who brought me flowers.  The ones who didn't let me apologize for all the hassle and who let me know that this is what friends do.  They went above and beyond.  Every single one of them.  And I will promise to be the same friend to each of you.  So, Amy, Kirsten, Stephanie, Tammy, Ken and Katie - thank you, thank you, thank you.  And Brad - the girls are alive, I'm sore, but ok .. . . . .  but just a note in advance - I took your advice about the house, so brace yourself, honey.  ;)

Silly little Pierce Family

These girls are certainly putting on a show this morning.  Also wanted to include some extra pics of Easter that I haven' t posted yet.  Blair is turning into quite the ham!  (In more ways than one - hee hee)  Check out those legs in her new Dora sandals.  Too much . . ..  xoxo to all.

div>

Calling Super Nanny

Our 2 year old is killing us.  Seriously.  She won't go to bed - yes, we let her cry it out (or attempt to, most of the time), but honestly, what 2 year old do you know that will scream at the top of their lungs, so loud you can hear it outside for . . . . .. 3+ HOURS?????  On the nights I can't bear it (1 or 2 a week)  I give in and let her come into the living room with me until she falls asleep and Brad carries her to bed.  The other 1 or 2 nights, she goes to bed willingly and peacefully at 8pm.  The other 3?  Total hell for her father and I until we decide we're so delirious with exhaustion that we won't hear her screams anymore if we're in bed, with our door shut and with pillows over our heads.  (Those are the nights she's screamed from 8pm till 11pm - on some occassions even 1am.)

The worst part?  Its extending into our daily lives.  Not just at nighttime anymore.  She demands what she wants, when she wants it -- and if we say "no" - well, we're in for a battle.  Tonight she asked for her shoes (which were outside full of sand) for 2 hours.  She asks to eat ALL DAY LONG.  She repeats the same request over and over and over like a button that just gets stuck.  I try my best to stick to my word, but often times, I don't say no even when I normally would in order to "choose my battles."  Because if I'm busy, or if the baby's sick, or if we're in public, or if Collin needs help -- I just can't deal with a 2 or 3 hour battle.  For the most part (and according to many who know me)  I am considered a "scrict" parent.  I try to raise my children as I was raised (which makes sense, since that's the only way I know to do it.)  We are sticklers with manners.  Brad and I have had A LOT of practice with Collin over the years.  But here's the part I can't stand to hear myself say:

It just doesn't "take" with Ava.

I put her in time out - she walks away.  I continue to put her back (a la Super Nanny style), she thinks its a game and laughs.

I spank her bottom (please no comments if you disagree with this) - she laughs at me.

We put her in the crib for time out - she climbs out.

We put her in her room for time out - she can now unlock the door and get out.

I kneel down on her level and ask her to calm down, holding her hands, telling her (and repeating the request) that I know what she wants but mommy says "no" and she screams louder and hits me - sometimes bringing tears to my eyes.

We're at our wits end.  Its beginning to be very obvious that this adorable baby is running our family.  I'm getting scared that Blair will learn from her.  I'm getting scared that people will think she's a spoiled brat.  I'm getting scared that Brad and I as parents are failing at our job to teach her what is acceptable behavior and what is not.

I welcome comments and suggestions from you all - but if you do, please note these disclaimers:

Ava is 2.  I understand that a certain amount of these behaviors are totally normal as she explores her boundaries.

Ava has a speech delay.  We have been VERY proactive in getting her treated, although unfortunatley, treatment has been delayed due to extensive waiting lists.  While her inability to communicate effectively frustrates her father, I can understand almost everything Ava says.  She is an EXCELLENT communicator despite her lack of vocabulary and there is not an issue as far as us knowing what she wants/needs due to this delay.  (Although I do recognize that she is probably frustrated that she is not always understood by others that are not her mommy.)

I fully intend on addressing these issues with both her speech therapist and pediatrician, but have mentioned it in the past and have not gotten any solid advice.  So, please weigh in.  I want to hear what you've tried.  What worked and what didn't.  If you see any red flags.  Or maybe you could just comisserate with me?  :)