couponing adventure

Today I ran to Publix to grab Bates some vitamins, or vittes as he calls them.

I knew they were on sale and I had coupons to match up, and he was down to the last few.

I got two sets of Flintstones Vitamins. He's been taking the My First Vitamins, but since they only had one of those I had to get the gummies too.
Both bottles of vitamins for $.97!!!! I saved $17.58!!!!
Um, hello, that's awesome!

Couponing

I'm not gonna be posting all my couponing adventures, but this morning I did AWESOME and just had to share.

A trip to Publix and I came home with this...
4 things of Juicy Juice juice boxes
a bag of salad
three bags of potatoes
bottle of mustard
A1 sauce
two things of ham
bottle of bbq sauce
a thing of Huggies wipes
a box of Huggies diapers (qty 80)
and a box of Pampers diapers (qty 80)

All of that for $33.50.
And I saved $52.33!!!!

$33.50, that is less than it would cost to just buy those two boxes of diapers that are more that $20 each! We have quite the stock pile of diapers going but with two boys in diapers I need to stock pile all I can!

Bates: my joy

Before Bates came home, I knew I wanted to give him a characteristic, something he was to me, something he showed me, something he just was, something I saw in his personality.

The 9 months he has been home have been filled with more love, more laughter, more happiness than I could have ever imagined. Today when he was napping in my arms, I just wondered how I was so lucky. Why did God pick little old me to be this child's forever mother? The journey to bring us together as a family is paved with loss and sadness and tears and pain. And here we are building a lifetime of the best memories you could wish for!
I don't think I'll ever be able to fully grasp the wonderment that is adoption.

There have been several ideas running around in my head on what Bates is to me.
I have recently settled on one.

My Joy.

He is my joy. A son is a mother's joy and Bates is my greatest joy in life. Watching him experience life with wide eyed wonderment is a joy to watch. His has the most joyous personality. His tiny self has brought Nick and I more joy than we ever imagined possible.

I found this quote the other day.

Let there be more joy and laughter in your living.
- Eileen Caddy

I can say because of Bates we have more joy and laughter in our living - for sure.

Bates, my joy, I pray life gives you a taste of the joy that your life has brought your father and I. You are the sweetest gift God has ever given us.

Pop-its

Bates likes pockets. Anytime I have something with pockets, or pop-its, as he calls it, he puts his hands in them and says "pop-its momma!"

This morning as I was getting him dressed he put was trying to put his hands in his jean "pop-its" but couldn't get his hand in there. He was having a bit of a meltdown over having "pop-its" so I grabbed one of his sweatshirts that had pockets and put it on him. I showed him he had pockets on it and then he was happy as a clam. He spent the better part of the morning putting his hands in and out of his "pop-its".

I had him model his "pop-its" for all his fans out therePlease disregard the juice he has all over him. He had a little run in with his juice box.

Shared Post: Slide

Santa brought Brodie a slide for Christmas.

I knew it would be something both the boys would play with and I could envision them spending hours playing on it together.

It's been in the closet in what will be Brodie's room since Christmas. This weekend we started turning that room from a guest room into Brodie's room. We started with cleaning out the closet (which by the way, where am I supposed to put all this stuff now?!).

I saw the slide and figured we'd go ahead and put it together and let Bates play.

Like any good big brother, he was happy to test it out, you know to make sure it's safe for his little brother.

He loved it!
We set up some pillow for him to crash into on the bottom, which was fun!

Once we got it together I told Nick it looked really steep and fast! I don't remember other slides being this steep! Ok, well it is FAST. Bates would FLY down it and off the end. Here's proof of how fast that thing is! Check out his hair and the crash off the end.

9 mths ago

Nine short months ago, I was handed my son to become his forever momma.

I was scared. Nick was scared.

And well, Bates.... he was terrified.
We've come so far in the 9 short months we've been a family.
Those hard days paved the way to the happy, joyous, funny-as-all-get-out, smart, strong willed two year old that has molded into our hearts and lives like he has been here from the beginning.

Bates' laugh is contagious. When he smiles his eye sparkle. When he crinkles his nose at me, my heart melts. He has filled a place in our hearts and home that only his tiny shrimp of a self could. He's tough, and brave, but a momma's boy to the core. He loves his daddy and he waits looking out the window for his dad, his hero, and his best bud to get home from work. He wakes in the morning with a smile and says "up. mouse". He covers his face with his hands when we pray but likes to peek at momma and make faces.

Nine months. Such a short time. A drop in the bucket to the lifetime we will spend as his parents. Only a snapshot of the memories we will create as we love, learn, and grow as a family.
Nine months, but yet a lifetime ago. The memories of that day are still real to me, the emotions still raw, but it's like I'm looking at them through a foggy mirror. I pray I never, ever forget the feel of my son in my arms, the weight of him as he finally gave up the fight and closed his eyes and fell asleep. With total abandon he trusted me for the first time, if only in his sleep. I remember the way his hair smelled as he buried his head into my shoulder grieving for the only mother he ever knew, his Omma.
It was approximately 18 months ago that we began the journey to adopt a child, 9 months ago we became a family, and hopefully in 9 more months we'll have our Brodie home with us.

Snips of Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

We had Bates' birthday party on January 8th. It was a blast. Our little guy was surrounded by so many friends and family that love him! He's one special and blessed little boy!

There was even a dusting of snow on the party day!

Here are some of the decorations and food.

the adult favorsthe kiddos favors, doggie bags!

no party hats here, just dog ears!

Some of the guests.

momma and AnnaPawPaw and MawMaw and the birthday boy

his d'd

mawmaw and anna

another one of momma and the birthday boy, making a silly face

anna sportin' her puppy dog ears

sweet zaya. I LOVE this girl. She is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
I want my boy to love her!
I put Bates on the couch with her and tried to get her to give him a kiss.
Zaya leaned over and wanted to kiss him, but this is how Bates looked at her....
oh, boy, I have a lot to teach him!
will!aunt mandi (mamme) and mimisilas the puppy dogaunt emily, uncle robert, dad, and d'danna and chasecarolineour fam

The birthday boy got his own cupcake and we all gathered around and sang to him. You can tell by the look on his face, he wasn't so sure about the singing part.

And yes, I'm holding his hands down. He likes candles and I was afraid he would try to touch it.

Bates found someone's pudding and helped himself. He was just wandering around and eating whatever he wants from whoever he wants plate!

Then he worked his d'd to give him some juice.

It was a great party, we had a blast celebrating our boy. Hard to believe he's two!
I'll leave you with this last picture, this is our buddy Mason. He got to spend a little time in timeout during the party. He scratched his sister. When asked what happened he pointed outside and said "I think the wind did it!"

special thanks to my bud, Ryan, who took pictures from us,
you can tell which are his and which are mine!