10 Months

Molly,

Month 10 has arrived faster than I could have ever imagined. You're still wearing 9 month clothes, size 2 shoes (if you actually wore them), and size 3 diapers.

You've been doing great with your baby food & your favorites seem to be the oatmeal with fruit and turkey & rice. You really would rather have anything from Mommy's plate. I'm amazed at what you can eat with only 2 little teeth (and 4 more on the way).

You sleep from about 7 until 3. Then you nurse & go back to sleep until about 6:15 when I have to get you up by singing you your "Sweet Molly" song. You take two naps a day, usually about an hour each.

You're walking (more like running) behind your little yellow cart & you can stand alone very well. Everything you find goes straight into your mouth. During playtime you like to play with your counting cow, blocks, & anything that makes music. You've figured out how to open the dog kennels and like to play with the blinds. You've gotten pretty good at waving & clapping and you're a pro at peek-a-boo.

You "talk" A LOT! So far you've said Dada, Mama, Disi (Dixie), bye bye, hi, and more.

My Sweet Molly-Molls I honestly don't know where the time has gone. You're such an amazing blessing & everyday with you is such a joy (even the hard ones). I love you so much my little Peppers!

Love,

Mommy

Perfect Scents!

Last night I hosted a Scentsy party for my friend Mitzi. It was really just an excuse to try the new fondue line that they just launched called Velata.

We tried the milk chocolate & had angel food cake, fruit, pretzels, & marshmallows for dipping. It was SOOO yummy! We had such a great time visiting & eating. Then we did a little sniffing to pick out our new favorite scents for our original Scentsy warmers. Look what little cutie fit right in with the big girls!

She kept holding them up to her nose and making this "smelling" face. You can't see it very well from the side but it was the funniest thing!

A little taste testing

Teething Monster

Molly's first tooth came in back at the beginning of April. She was a little fussy but life was fine. Tooth #2 came in right behind it and again a little fussy but no big deal.

At her 9 month check up Dr. S noticed the swelling in her top gums and noted after feeling around that all FOUR top teeth would be makin' their appearance anytime now.

That was almost a month ago & girlfriend's been a mess. She's had fever, tummy troubles, she's cranky & just over all uncomfortable. Snuggling with Daddy helps sometimes though.

Then today I came across this and according to the chart we'll be in a constant battle with the Teething Monster for like the next year and a half.

Bring it on Teething Monster! This Momma's got Orajel, and Teething Tabs, and Tylenol, OH MY!

Little Baby Foodie

This month Molly's been really good about eating her baby food but for the most part she'd rather have whatever it is that we're eating.

oranges & hashbrowns from J&Js

Limes

Icecream

She's also really into frozen waffles, crackers, yogurt and anything we'll feed her off of our plate. We've been working on using the sign for "more" but Molly likes to use her words, she says MMMMMMMM at someone until they give her more.

Sunday Sunday

The weather has been super hot lately so Sunday after breakfast & a quick meeting with our Children's director at church we went to service.

Afterward we set up the pool & had a great time!

Mother's Day Gifts

Here's a fun little peek at the gifts our Moms got this year for Mother's Day.


You can see the whole book here

Piggy Bank

I've had an opportunity come up that would allow me to stay home with Molly part time. *Insert happy dance here!

Along with part time work comes part time pay. *Insert financial stress face here

So I've made some efforts in the last couple of weeks to really look at where our money goes. I mean I know we make it, and Lord knows we spend it, but on what exactly? I started reading this blog. Where this family of 6 is living on $28K/year. She's got some great practical tips and is very inspiring. But sorting out a budget (I mean a real one where you don't just toss it out the window halfway through the month) is a little overwhelming. So I poked around on Pinterest and found a few different budgeting forms.

This is my favorite

These would work too but I wasn't up for spending any money

Then I came across something about the envelope cash system. Which I have sort of done in the past I just didn't know that's what it was called. All my fixed bills were paid first (rent, utilities, etc) then whatever amounts were budgeted for the other categories I put onto giftcards. Grocery budget went on an HEB gift card & gas budget on a gas station gift card. When it ran out it was out. I'd have to decide if I wanted to use "entertainment" for it or not. If there was anything leftover it ran over to the next month and I could put the difference into savings.

So I've decided for experiment's sake to give it a try again this month. I filled out our budget and I'm going to make envelopes for my store specific cards. (I know you're suppsed to use cash because it's harder to spend than "plastic" cards but I'm being realistic here) I'll need 5:

HEB (groceries)

Target (diapers)

Wal-Mart (gas)

Dining Out (cash)

Entertainment (cash)

We'll see how it goes this month. Maybe this budgeting thing won't be excruciating so hard after all. And if I get stressed I'm going to go to these for comfort

Because when it comes right down to it....

This is what's really important!