Yes, I'm still alive - contrary to the recent state of my blog. As I mentioned before, my writing time has been channeled towards composing a newsletter once a week on all our recent household happenings as well as updates about our baby girl for our family and friends.
(It's easier for me to write the e-newsletter than to post on my blog, for some reason. If you want to receive a copy of the newsletter just shoot me off an email at first initial, M, last name at gmail dot com).
But things have been hopping here for us. My mother-in-law paid us a two-week visit in the middle July. It was a real treat to have her here (hey, live-in babysitter!) and I know she appreciated getting some quality time with her first grandchild. Morenna certainly loves her Nana.
M's been really busy at work and has been forced to work some crazy hours, much to our disappointment. He's actually in the process of considering a new job with a large consulting firm near our home. Feel free to keep that in your prayers! I think he's enjoying fatherhood on the whole.
I remember back in our college days I often wondered what M would look like as a dad. He always told me he didn't want to have children (a little white lie at the time) and I figured I could see why - he never seemed like the daddy sort. But boy could I ever be more wrong. He is so great with Morenna and seems to enjoy her more and more everyday!
Morenna herself is, well, just amazing. She continues to surprise us with her developmental growth. She's starting to teeth now, but so far it hasn't been too traumatic for baby or mommy. She rolls from tummy to back and back to tummy.
She likes to sleep on her side (at least I think she does since I put her to bed on her tummy and she's always on her side when I go to get her in the morning).
She's sleeping through the night like a champ (8-9pm to 6-7:30am) and she loves to scoot around and knaw on her toys. Sitting up is also a new activity.
I have to say her favorite place is probably either outside or on her Mommy and Daddy's bed. We're keeping my parent's golden retriever for a couple of weeks and she's enjoying the presence of another slobbery companion.
And me... well, I'm just loving life. What a joy it is to be a wife and a mother. A challenge, yes, but what life-endeavers aren't? I'm really enjoying my new hobby of bargain shopping. Since we've gone down to one income, I'm gripping my wallet a little tighter these days, but the resulting effect has been terrific.
I'm loving all the deals I am able to score each week at places like CVS.
My most recent trip was just yesterday. It wasn't one of my most glorious trips ever, but I was pretty excited to obtain the following items for just over $2:
- 1 package of make-up remover pads
- 1 16 oz bag Skittles
- 1 package of Bandaids
- 2 bars of Dove dark chocolate
- 3 packages of Mentos
- 1 Revlon lip gloss
- 1 package of M&M Premium candies
- 1 Clairol Natural Instincts hair color (and no, I don't color my hair... it was for a friend :-))
What's even better is that I have $4 in CVS money to spend on my next visit. Whoo hoo! I'm loving it!
And to make things even better, my local grocery had triple coupon day last week. In all I spent over $90 just in coupons alone... and some items the store actually "paid" me $0.10. $0.25 or $0.90 cents to buy. Tee hee :-)
And one other money-saving activity has been our little garden: two tomatoes and one pepper plant. Somehow or another, our little pepper plant has become the fertile king of the land, popping out eight peppers so far and leaving 40 blooms to go. Very interesting.
So that's a little glimpse into our lives. Hope all is well with you!
Dear Journal,
