Photo Challenge for July

Posted on by Dri

As the $30/week challenge is winding down, I’ve been thinking about what to do in July. The original intent of this blog was to document our family life. While the grocery budget challenge was definitely a part of our family life, it was about the only think I had time to write about over the last month. So… I think one way to get back to the basics I’m going to do a photo challenge. Each day, I’m going to post a photo or two that captures the essence of that day (or maybe I’ll have to post the next day).

FIVE Months of Love

Posted on by Dri

Today, my baby is FIVE months old! And we are having a lot more fun! I find that the older she gets, the more fun she is. Now she’s rolling over and actually on purpose. She’s pushing up on her elbows. She’s laughing (mostly at the puppy). She’s sleeping through the night. And just last week we started trying some solid foods. Just rice cereal, but she’s actually doing pretty good!

15 Minute Miracle

Posted on by Dri

Ok, not literally, but it’s amazing what you can do in 15 minutes! I have recently discovered the 15 minute clean and rediscovered the “power nap” and it has made quite an improvement to our days.

First of all, here’s how the 15 minute clean works: once the baby is down for their nap (especially if they take a few minutes to cry themselves to sleep like mine does), pick one room that needs to be picked up, set the kitchen timer for 15 minutes and get to work. When the timer goes off, you can keep cleaning if you feel so inclined, but even if not, you’ve probably done quite a bit. A little bit each nap adds up to quite a bit.

It’s alive! It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE!

Posted on by Dri

It has been a wonderful, glorious, rough past 3 (almost 4 months) making the transition into parenthood. Yes, that sweet baby is worth every minute of lost sleep, every ear piercing cry, every exploding diaper, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that it’s also been hard. Nothing anyone can say can possibly prepare you for the joys or the woes of being a first time parent. They’ll tell you you won’t sleep for a month, but until you’ve experienced it, you can’t really know the toll that no sleep can have on you. They’ll tell you that you’ll love that child more than life itself, but you won’t know the heart wrenching depth of that until they sleep for 5 hours the first time and you fear they have stopped breathing! (Can I get an Amen?)

Branson Vacation

Posted on by Dri

Last week Ansen’s parents went on vacation to Branson and asked us to join them! We had a great time, enjoyed WAY too much food and did a good amount of shopping. Of course, I forgot to take many pictures, but (thanks to Auntie and Uncle) we did get some pictures of the one thing I was most excited about: Baby’s first swim!