GOODBYE

I am combining my personal blog with my giveaway blog. I don't post as often on this one, and very few of you read or comment on this blog, so this one will no longer be updated. Please follow me at The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Thanks!

FINALLY!

For the first time ever in his short, little life, Caden slept the whole night in his bed without waking up even once! Unfortunately for me, I went to bed late, I woke up often worried about him, and Caden got up early, so I still didn't get great sleep. But I'm glad he finally slept through the entire night! He has been sleeping better overall too and sleeping longer in his bed. He really loves it and has only fallen off two other times besides the first time. I hope these sleep changes last!

His eating habits have also improved. He is still a little picky, but is eating all his favorite foods again and is always hungry. The only thing we still need to work on is weaning (keep all your judgments to yourself, thank you very much). We are down to four a day, and for all but the first (when he wakes up--it's like his morning coffee; he's grumpy without it) he has to eat food before nursing. He still nurses at night for a couple minutes to fall back asleep, but with these sleep changes, hopefully no longer!

Wearing 6-9 month pants. They looked like skinny jeans on him!

p.s. Please enter my current giveaway! I really need support in this one and it's a really cool product, especially for you mommies with two or more kids!

Sweet & Simple Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, we invited Adam and Kirsten and another couple, the Sants, for a romantic dinner and dessert at our place, no kids. I decorated simply for lack of time and played some big band swing. We all dressed up as if we were going out for a night on the town, and I took photos of each couple.

Justin looked so hot! He wore his wedding shoes, which he hasn't in a long while.

We have a special table Justin's grandfather made: it has a griddle in the middle. We made meat and vegetables dipped in a secret-family-recipe Asian sauce.

Next we played The Newlywed Game and we won! Yes, I wrote the quiz, but I promise I picked questions that I didn't know the answer to. The truth is we didn't do awesome, the other couples just did worse than we did.

We finished the night with some simple chocolate fondue and strawberries, pineapple, marshmallows, and Rice Krispie treats. The night was a great success of free fun for everyone!

Blessing in Disguise

In December, Justin was in a car accident that destroyed our car, but thankfully only left Justin with a headache. We had no idea what we were going to do. We had trouble with both our and the other person's insurances getting a rental car, so we were carless for nearly a week. I felt that everything would work out ok and I tried reassuring Justin.

We got a very large check from our insurance, so the Tuesday after the accident Justin wanted to go look at cars. I hate car shopping. We did it the summer I was pregnant and ended up with what Justin's parents found anyway. But it was good day to go since we had a lot of time and it was rainy so the dealerships wouldn't be busy. We borrowed the car we gave to Adam and Kirsten and went to a Toyota/Scion dealership to look for a Toyota Corolla. I was determined to buy new--I was done with used cars!

Immediately I was impressed with the dealership: they had an indoor pirate ship play area for kids. I was able to keep Caden occupied while Justin test drove cars.

Although I made it clear I wanted new, the lady helping us said she had a used 2010 Corolla in great shape and price. I hesitated, but the more I heard about the car, the more I liked it. It was basically the same as the new version but missing a couple fancy additions that I didn't care for anyway (like a sunroof). The mileage was low, the color was nice, and the price was very tempting. Justin and I both drove it and gave in. It was perfect for us! We weren't expecting to come home with a car that day.

With the insurance check, a small check from the other insurance company, tuition reimbursement after Justin's residency was approved, and savings, we were able to put down a very large down payment on the car that we would not have been able to otherwise. Our credit was approved for very low monthly payments and interest, something that other dealerships wouldn't do for us since our credit was based only on our credit cards and not any other loans or major purchases, even though our scores were excellent. We got a free meal while the paperwork was processed. Everything went down smoothly and the people we worked with were great.

This accident was a huge blessing in disguise. We have wanted to get a new (or better-quality used) car for a long time, but we never had enough money to put down to get affordable monthly payments. The money was always spent on fixing both of our used cars. The timing of the accident was perfect for us financially. It was surreal writing a check that big! I don't think we've ever had that much money in our account at once. We are so happy with the car and grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing us with the opportunity and means to get it.

Boogie No More

Disco is my favorite music. It's Caden's too. In fact, it's the only music he will listen to (besides Primary songs). I am so disco'd out from listening to it everyday on Pandora for at least an hour. But it keeps him quiet and happy so I can get things done. I'm caught in a "boogie" trap and I don't know how to get out!

Post title from "Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey.