Lilyisms

Lily and Taylor have started to give each other kisses. It's quite a production as they come together and say loudly, "Mmmmmmwwwaaaaa", as they lay one on each other. It's pretty hilarious. But the other day after a kiss Lily announced, "I love to kiss boys!"

We were in the car and Lily was staring out her window looking up at the clouds. She said to me, "Mom, that is a really unique cloud!" I'd never heard her use the word "unique" before.

She has a friend at preschool that she really likes and talks about a lot. This friend recently stopped coming to preschool because of some speech issues and Lily misses her. She was talking about it the other night and said, "Hannah doesn't come to preschool anymore and it's really disappointing."

It's just so fun as her vocabulary grows to hear her speaking more articulately and describing her feelings and events really descriptively. She's growing up so fast!

Family Fun

I've heard good things about this magazine and have wanted to buy a subscription for myself for a long time. I kept putting it off, not wanting to spend the $10 with Amazon. Well! BestDealMagazines sells it for $4.69 and if you use code PINCHPENNIES15 you get an extra 15% off bringing the price to $3.99!!! A one year subscription is 10 issues so you'd pay about $0.40/issue (or just over a penny/day) and I think that's downright reasonable!!!

I don't ordinarily get into subscribing to magazines. It's just another expense. The only other one I receive is Parenting and I bought it from my niece for her school fundraiser.

What magazines do you read and recommend?

What's in a name?

We have no idea what we're going to name this baby. It's a good thing we have a few months, because we're not agreeing at all! =) But I thought I'd let you inside my brain a little so that you have some idea of how we're narrowing it down.

None of this is set in stone, just "preferences" that we (I) have. So don't hold us to it!!!

Lily and Taylor's names contain an "L" and a "Y" so we'd like Baby's name to also contain either an L or a Y.

Our last name starts with B so her name will not start with a B. It also probably won't start with A, D, L or T so that we all have our own first initial.

Lily and Taylor's names are English in origin. We didn't do that intentionally, but since it's true we may pick an English name this time too. Just so that our kids have that in common.

Her middle name will most likely be family - one of our grandmas or something.

And then there's the "small" criteria that we both have to like it!

So, there you have it. Those are our "guidelines".

Lily has made several suggestions over the past several months - all of them GIRL names because she's has always believe that this baby is a girl. =) Her first suggestion was Sally, followed by Melody, Lulu, and Belle. It's so cute. And she says, "We have to hurry and pick a name for our baby before she gets here!" SO sweet! I think she'll be happy with anything we choose - she's just so excited for her little sister to get here.

A decision has been made

Yesterday we attended Kindergarten Round Up at the Christian School. It went really, really well and we enjoyed our visit. Lily passed her screening with flying colors and the teacher who screened her said she is absolutely ready for Kindergarten.

Andy and I were able to get a tour of the school, meet the K teacher (Mrs D), see the curriculum, and ask a few questions. Some of the things we enoyed:

The friendly familiar faces (teachers and kids who attend our church)
The Scripture passages on the walls
The size of the classes (16 is the cap for K)
The "rigorous" nature of the K program
That God's Word is taught on a daily basis and that students are taught that His Word is absolute truth

So, after months of praying and talking about it, we have decided to enroll her at the Christian School. And it is such a relief to have the decision made. We don't exactly know where the money will come from, but we're going to take this leap of faith and trust Him to provide.

The whole time we were there yesterday it felt so surreal. I just can't believe that we're getting ready to send our baby to Kindergarten. We were there as the PARENTS. How did we get here??? I just keep thinking about how fast the last four and a half years have gone, and how I want to make the most of these next several months with Lily.

Don't blink. We'll be at her high school graduation before we know it.

Major diaper sale

Okay, I'm back with another excellent deal. And I'm just too excited to keep it to myself.

We've used Tar.get diapers for both of our children. I wouldn't describe the diapers as awesome or anything, but they work. And they're fairly economical.

Well. WELL!

Tar/get.com is having a major diaper sale right now. The more you buy, the more you save. I believe you have to buy at least three packages to get the savings, but I could be wrong about that.

Anyway, fill up your "shopping cart" to your hearts content and then at Checkout enter the following promo code: URTYJLI8

And just watch what happens to the price!!! YIPPEE!

And you get FREE SHIPPING! These diapers are going to show up at my door one day and I will not have had to trek to the store in the bitter cold nor have clipped a coupon! This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!!!

I just bought 948 diapers (it sounds insane I know! but T is still in diapers and probably will be for awhile, and baby girl is on her way) along with 4 boxes of 320 wipes (a total of 1280 wipes) for $165.55.

I haven't taken the time to figure out how much that is per diaper, and I frankly don't care! I bought a couple different sizes and a couple different brands because I enjoy a particular diaper for a newborn.

And finally, I made the purchase via Ebates.com and will receive 3% cash back on my purchase. I KNOW!

A good deal makes my heart beat a little faster. And brings a large smile to my face.

Just wanted to share the joy!

Another coupon

More good news! Did you know that Target has their own store coupons? And that these coupons can be stacked with manufacture's coupons for additional savings??? If you go to Target's website and click on Coupons (from the menu on the left side), browse through their current coupons til you find the $1.00 off any one Ger.ber brand item. If you use this with one of the other coupons from my previous post you'll save an additional $1.00! Every little bit helps! =)

Coupon

I was at Target the other day browsing through the baby department. There are a few little basics that we need for Baby Girl, but I didn't want to pay full price. Today I searched for "Ger.ber Coupon" and found a couple of nice deals! If you use this link in the bottom right corner of the screen you'll see a button that says "Save NOW!" Click on that and then register to print two copies each of three different Ger.ber coupons. I'm SUPER excited because now I can purchase the burp cloths, receiving blankets, etc that I wanted for a little less money! YAY!

Oh brother!

Well, somehow I have goofed up the layout of my blog. I'm not actually very technically savvy and I don't even know how I did it. So, pardon the mess until I figure it out! Thanks!!!

Assorted

Just a few random things:

First, you can get 100 FREE PRINTS from Snap.fish with any purchase. And one print counts as a purchase! Just pay shipping and handling. I believe this deal expires tomorrow. Use code PRINTSNEW.

Also, if you're into digital scrapbooking, you can get a FREE 7 x 9 softcover photo book from Shutter.fly. Just pay S&H. Use code READYMADEBOOK. This also expires tomorrow.

The Vikings lost last night. We're grieving today. Ugh. Painful.

We're thinking about getting rid of our land line and just using our cell phones. Do you have any advice either way???

Lily will start Kindergarten in the fall and we're prayerfully considering our options. At this point I am (we are) strongly leaning toward the Christian School in our community. The only thing holding us back at this point is the cost. We've never had to pay for childcare so it isn't in our budget. Would you please pray with us that if God wants Lily at the Christian School that He would provide? And that He would make it abundantly clear what He would have us do? We're going to the Kindergarten Open House on Thursday and that will be a good opportunity for us to see the school, meet the teachers and be able to ask our questions. Please be praying!!! I could talk about this forever and there are many sides to the issue. But one of the biggest things for me as her mom is knowing who her peers will be. And as of today I know who four of her classmates would be! They are nice kids from solid Christian families. That's huge for me!

Tomorrow I'll be 23 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy is flying by! But that's probably good because she's already keeping me awake at night. And if I have to be awake in the night I'd rather be snuggling my newborn! My doctor's nurse called the other day and said they'd like me to come back for another ultrasound. Apparently, they weren't able to get good enough pictures of her mouth and nose (she had her hand over her face much of the time) and just want to take another look. So, I'll be doing that on Feb 3rd and we'd appreciate your prayers that they see what they want to see and that everything is still good! Thank you!

And, in our attempt to trim our spending each month we're looking forward to the lease being up on Andy's Camry in April. We'll be trading it in then and are looking into a minivan. YES!!! Anyhoodles, for those of you who drive one, would you be willing to tell me what kind you drive and what you do or don't like about it???

And finally, I'll leave you with this disturbing quote about vac*inations from Nutritionist Karen Hurd's website:

"In a December 1994 Medical Post article Dr. Guylaine Lanct*t said: 'The medical authorities keep lying. Vac*ination has been a disaster on the immune system. It actually causes a lot of illnesses. We are actually changing our genetic code through vac*ination...100 years from now we will know that the biggest crime against humanity was vac*ines.'"

Can you imagine?!?! What a statement. I hope he's wrong. But as parents we can't say we weren't warned. DO YOUR RESEARCH and do what's best for your babies.

Sugar and spice and everything nice

BECKERDAWN20100106132755865
Originally uploaded by october12bride

Most of you probably know this already, but we had our ultrasound a week and a day ago and found out that Baby #3 is a girl!

This was the most fun I've had at an ultrasound. Mostly I feel like they take forever and I feel completely awkward with my pants half down and I have to PEE like crazy! But I really enjoyed myself this time and I knew before the tech said anything that it was a girl. I could see her studying our Baby's "parts" and could see for myself what was "missing". =) She said, "Well, your daughter will be very happy because she's getting a sister." Yay!

Lily has been saying all along that this Baby is a girl. She wasn't the least bit surprised when I came home and told her the news. But she was VERY happy. =)

I've spent a little time getting Lily's closet ready for baby clothes. It's going to be really interesting fitting stuff for my two girls in ONE closet. =)

You know I love to shop and I've already found some exciting deals (this is a GREAT time to shop clearance, you know!) and it's just SO FUN to be buying pink again!!! I already bought matching Christmas dresses for Lily and Baby (making my best guess about sizes) and I'm going to thoroughly enjoy dressing them alike for as long as I can. =)

By way of an update about the rest of us I am 21 weeks pregnant and starting to feel like it. I'm already not sleeping super well and I toss and turn a lot. My blood pressure is typically pretty low during pregnancy, so I feel lightheaded a lot throughout the day. It's not very much fun! But I AM trying to savor this pregnancy since it's probably the last.

Andy is plugging along at work. It's been a tough two years or so and he feels like he's done everything he can to keep their current customers and attract new ones. It's a tough business. Occasionally he talks about finding a new line of work. On one hand it scares me a lot, but I'm behind him whatever he decides to do.

Lily is growing up so fast. She has changed a lot the past few months and is such a little person. She's doing great at preschool and is in a very big hurry to get to Kindergarten. She likes to draw and color, read books, watch movies, play outside, help in the kitchen, play with friends, go to church, and check the mail!

Taylor has also changed a lot in the past few months! He is getting so big. He has a smaller vocabulary than Lily did at this age, but he's picking up new words every day and is trying to communicate with what he has. He LOVES balls!!! Balls are his love language. When Andy walks in the door he shouts, "DADDY!", runs to the door to see him, and then bangs on the basement door because he wants Andy to take him down there and play with balls. There's a hoop down there and tons of balls and he would play for hours if we let him.

Hope you're doing well!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Vac*inations

Hi! Long time no see! I've meant to get on here and post an update, but other priorities have taken precedence!!! However, today I read something that I felt I needed to share.

I posted awhile back that shortly after Taylor's birth I began to look into vac*inations and felt in my gut like we needed to take a different course of action that we had with Lily. (She is fully vaccinated.) Several circumstances kept the issue on my mind and I couldn't shake it. I needed more information! We've done an alternative schedule with T and skipped some vac*ines altogether.

When I had the conversation with our doctor I felt very nervous. I could tell she thought I was a little nutty, but she listened and was "receptive." She pointed me to the MN Dept of Health website and the CDC website. NO, DUH! I had already been there! And as government websites they are obviously going to be pro-vac*ine. She cautioned me to be careful about other online sources, because anybody can post anything on the web. I appreciated her caution, and have tried to be very discerning about any source before I take it seriously.

I have to admit, that the topic still overwhelms me. There is SO much information out there, and so much misinformation. But IT IS WORTH LOOKING INTO, my friends. Whether you agree with me or not, I strongly urge you to start doing your own digging and make your own decision about vac*inating. Whatever you decide, do it on purpose! KNOW what you're putting into your children's bodies and why you're doing it.

Two of my friends have benefitted from the advise and expertise of nutritionist Karen Hurd. This woman has an incredible story. And she has posted some very interesting articles about immuniz*tions on her website. It would be worth your time to check them out.

There are a couple other books that have been helpful to us as we've navigated the wild world of immuniz*tions:

The Vac*ine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child by Dr. Robert Sears

Vac*inations: A Thoughtful Parent's Guide by Aviva Jill Romm

And the National Vac*ine Information Center website has more information that you could ever consume!

If you know of other resources that would be helpful or informative for us, please let me know. And please don't vac*inate your kids just because you're supposed to. Ask questions and do your research! Knowledge is power! =)

Crazy Love

I'm leading a small group of 10th grade girls this year and we're discussing Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It's really good.

I just wanted to share a quote from the book that I thought was a good reminder. He gives an analogy comparing life to a movie.

"Now consider the movie of life...

God creates the world. (Were you alive then? Was God talking to you when He proclaimed 'It is good' about all He had just made?)

Then people rebel against God (who, if you haven't realized it yet, is the main character in this movie), and God floods the earth to rid it of the mess people made of it.

Several generations later, God singles out a ninety-nine year old man called Abram and makes him the father of a nation (did you have anything to do with this?).

Later, along come Joseph and Moses and many other ordinary and inadequate people that the movie is also not about. God is the one who picks them and directs them and works miracles through them.

In the next scene, God sends judges and prophets to His nation because the people can't seem to give Him the one thing He asks of them (obedience).

And then, the climax: The Son of God is born among the people whom God still somehow loves. While in this world, the Son teaches His followers what true loves looks like. Then the Son of God dies and is resurrected and goes back up to be with God.

And even though the movie isn't quite finished yet, we know what the last scene holds. It's the scene I already described in chapter 1: the throne room of God. Here every being worships God who sits on the throne, for He alone is worthy to be praised.

From start to finish, this movie is obviously about God. He is the main character. How is it possible that we live as though it is about us? Our scenes in the movie, our brief lives, fall somewhere between the time Jesus ascends into heaven (Acts) and when we will all worship God on His throne in heaven. (Revelation).

We have only our two-fifths-of-a-second-long scene to live. I don't know about you, but I want my two-fifths of a second to be about my making much of God. First Corinthians 10:31 says, 'So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. That is what each of our two-fifths of a second is about.

So what does that mean for you?

Frankly, you need to get over yourself. It might sounds harsh, but that's seriously what it means... The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorfied, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift."

Preach it!

now this

Well, it's another round of whatever's going around. I took Taylor to express care last night (that's our fifth trip in about 8 weeks) and he has another double ear infection and croup. And my husband has stayed home the past two days unable to talk. I almost have no words.

It's been literally one thing after another since the beginning of September and my patience is wearing thin. My nerves are frayed and my coping skills are not 100%. It's hard work taking care of sick people, especially when I'm not feeling so hot myself. Thankfully, my only issue is pregnancy and I've managed by God's grace to avoid the other bugs so far.

Your prayers would be appreciated.

The butterfly and the lion

Success! We had a very enjoyable evening as a family and now have more candy than we know what to do with!

These pictures chronicle our night on the town. And it started with our traditional first stop at Andy's parents' house. They like to see the kids in their costumes and always have a ton of candy for them.

I love this picture! How CUTE are they in their costumes???

My lion and my butterfly

Checking out their loot

Having a sit with G'pa

The butterfly and the lion with G'ma and G'pa Becker

Next stop: the uncles' house

Picking out some goodies from Eric and Mark

These two get along so well

Last stop: Nathan and Nicholas' house

Nathan: Pirate

Lily: Butterfly

Nicholas: Puppy

Taylor: Lion

Kara and I took the big kids trick or treating in their neighborhood while the daddies put the little guys to bed. Nathan and Lily literally ran from house to house until about the last ten minutes. They had so much fun together!

Bits and pieces

Hello Friends,

I'm just checking in. There isn't much to report. I've been doing lots of laying low and getting to bed early. This pregnancy is going pretty well thus far. But I'm absolutely wiped out by dinner time. It's like I've given it all I've got all day and have nothing left in the tank. And the nausea has been a lot worse in the evenings, so I'd rather just sleep through it.

This pregnancy hasn't been as harsh as the last. With Taylor I was sick until 20 weeks and it was absolutely miserable. And I have to admit that when I found out I was pregnant this time around I felt so apprehensive because all of that was still pretty fresh in my memory!

But I was 10 weeks yesterday and if this is as bad as it's going to get I will survive!!!

It's been a rough couple of months for my kids. They've been sick off and on for all of September and October with everything from colds/coughs and fevers to ear infections and pink eye. We've been to Express Care 4 times and filled a variety of prescriptions (our kitchen was starting to look like a pharmacy and I almost needed a written schedule of what medicine to give to which child at what time of day!).

Lily is finishing up a round of anitibiotics, but as of this moment they are both symptom free, healthy and happy. I'm PRAYING for good health for the rest of the season because I am SO TIRED of having sick kids!

All this H1N1 stuff has been making me a little crazy. If my kids get it, that may just push me over the edge. You can't get away from it because so many people are sick and the media loves to talk about it and I've had enough! Everybody needs to relax and use their common sense. God is on the throne. He doesn't slumber or sleep. And nothing about H1N1 is a surprise to Him. Moving on...

On Friday morning Taylor tripped and fell right into the corner of a table in our living room. He split his eyebrow area open and chaos ensued. I spent the next hour or so on the phone with different clinics, nurses, my mom and my husband trying to figure out where to take him. My doctor had a funeral to go to so she couldn't see him. Long story short, a Pediatrician was able to take a look at it and glued it shut. It looks worse than it is because of the dried blood and hair under the glue. But the Ped thinks it'll heal really well and shouldn't scar badly at all.

Are you taking your kids trick or treating? Lily is going to be a butterfly and Taylor is going to be a lion. I can't wait to show you photos of them in their costumes!

After her preschool field trip to the fire station!

He's so darn cute. Irresistible. And delicious.

.

I've added a poll to my blog. I'd love it if you'd make a guess as to whether you think this baby will be a boy or a girl!

A date with the Movers

On Saturday afternoon my friend Kara and I took our big kids to see the Imagination Movers at the Target Center in Minneapolis. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I have to admit I was a little star struck when they came out on stage.

They came out into the crowd quite a bit, and Lily was able to give Mover Rich a high five! It's a very interactive show with lots of singing, echoing, actions and dancing.

They seem like a very nice group of guys and to genuinely love what they do. At one point they said that it was their dream to do concerts for kids and thanked the crowd for making their dream come true. Awwww!

Between the four of them they have 11 kids! And Mover Rich and his wife have 5!!!

Anyway, here are a few photo highlights. I don't have the best camera so please excuse the poor quality. =)

Reach high! Think big! Work hard! Have fun!!!

Lily and her buddy Nathan, one of her favorite people in the whole world

The Movers!
(from l to r) Dave, Scott, Rich and Smitty

Wordless Wednesday

It's hard to tell, but yes, that is a positive pregnancy test. =) We are being blessed with another baby. And this little miracle-in-progress is due May 25th. Yay!

Whoopsy Daisies

Hello Friends! I took a little impromptu bloggy break for a few days! My dear friend Amber was here for the weekend and it was SO much fun! I'll tell you more about her visit which included peeking in the windows of the moldy house some time soon!

Recently I've been feeling like I may need to blog a little less. I *love* doing it, but it's a big time suck for me, and it's almost impossible just to write my own post without ending up visiting and spending time at other favorite blogs. I sit down with my computer and before I know it an hour or two has gone by and there are *so* many other things that need to be done! I'm needing to reprioritize and unfortunately blogging has to slip a few notches down the list.

I don't know exactly what that's gonna look like yet. I'm fairly certain that I'll still post on a weekly basis, but certainly not five days/week. Thanks for your understanding!

Before I go, I'll leave you with a fun little recipe. A couple weeks ago I attended the Taste of Home Cooking School at our local civic center. It was a very enjoyable evening and I got some new recipes!

This Snickerd*odle Chex Mix is *so* yummy! I'm confident that you'll like it. Enjoy!

1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 c. Cinnamon Chex cereal
2 c. Chocolate Chex cereal
4 c. popped popcorn
1/4 c. butter or margarine

1. In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon; set aside. In a large microwavable bowl, mix cereals and popcorn.

2. In a 1-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave butter uncovered on High about 40 seconds or until melted. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated.

3. Microwave on High 1 minute. Stir. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture evenly over cereal mixture; stir. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture; stir. Microwave 1 minute longer. Spread on waxed paper or paper towels to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Delish!!!

Wordless Wednesday