The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

I just had to add this in.  This little toy has provided HOURS of entertainment for all three kids recently.  Jonas is 8 months old now and he’s figuring out how to put ANYTHING and EVERYTHING into his mouth.  His latest trick in the tub is to pull out the plug and try to put it in his mouth (yuck!  Even though I clean that thing with bleach once in a while, it still seems to gather everything yucky that goes down the drain).  He gets angry when you take a toy away from him and is still a very happy little guy.

Okay, now down to business...

Guess who got the DEAL OF THE CENTURY this weekend?  Yes, yours truly.  Jonas and I were on a walk on Saturday morning and I, of course, didn’t bring my wallet because I wasn’t thinking about the fact that it was Saturday during Garage Sale season.   We happened upon three different garage sales on my normal walking route.  Don’t you worry, I found a craft storage cart (which I’ve been eyeing at the store), two razor scooters in good condition (which are $35 each new), a bag of baby boy clothes (which is fabulous since Jonas rotates through 4 outfits currently), a bag of re-usable diapers, a hole punch (mine just broke this week), a container of mod-podge (which I had on my list to get this week with my JoAnn’s coupon), little toys and stamps for the girls all for a grand total of $50.  The fact that I had to put these items on “hold” and rush back home to scrape up any spare cash we had laying around and rush back was totally worth it.  

I really don’t know anything about re-usable diapers except that I’ve had a mild interest in them for cost and environmental reasons and been scared away when I’ve briefly looked up the “start-up” cost online, and overwhelmed by the number of options.   However, I figured when I bought these that I could at least turn around and sell them on Craigslist for more than I paid for them, if nothing else.  The lady had purchased over $300 in bum genius brand diapers, washed them once and NOT EVEN USED THEM!  Apparently I struck gold because I got 12 of the “adjustable, pocket” diapers , 24 of the pads, 12 of the “overnight” pads all for a grand total of, drumroll please, $30!!  I spent a good hour online verifying the price and value of my good find, watching some tutorials on how to use them and wash them and we are set up to go!  Jared was laughing at how excited I was over diapers of all things, but I couldn’t be more pleased.  We’ve used them for 24 hours now and I am loving it.  Ask me again in 2 months after scrubbing poop out in the toilet and hanging diapers to dry on the laundry line, but I really think I’ll stick with it.  Just this week I purchased a box of disposable diapers from Costco for $40 which is now going to be returned!

The bad part of the weekend is that we’ve had a mild flu and Lilly has some sort of eye infection.  Go figure that at Friday around 5 pm was when I started to realize Lillian’s eye was looking funky, pink and gooberish.  Why is it that illnesses always hit their peak at the beginning of the weekend??  Lillian was not eating and mildly complaining all Thursday about her stomach and I didn’t think much of it since she was distracted by library time, home school with friends and even hosting missionaries over for dinner.  Well, Jonas threw up at dinner which I kind of passed off as baby spit up (even though he doesn’t spit up any more).  Of course, Friday when Jared was at scout camp with his 11 year old scouts all day he felt nauseous and then Saturday Jocelyn was sick all day and even threw up.  The best part about that is that she walked from the couch (where she had been watching her 2^nd movie of the day) and threw up in the garbage.  Amazing, right?  What a relief after the years of her running like a banshee down the hall and throwing up in every direction!  Talk about a decrease in clean up time and dry heaving while doing so...I am feeling it today so we’ve all stayed home from church so as to not pass this little treasure onto other unlucky individuals.  

The other good news of the weekend is that Jared and I spent our time at home yesterday making this growth chart which has been on my “to-do” list for years.  Thanks to the genius talent of Jared’s sister and Jared’s talent for finding free materials on Craigslist this cost practically nothing!!  I’ve spent the past several months gathering the information from old doctor’s offices, medical records, journal entries and parents but I finally made it.  On our chart we have the heights of Jared and I growing up as well as the heights of all the kids from birth to their current age.  Now we just have to hang it up in Jonas’s room.   I am really pleased with it and Jocelyn informed me that she is “really excited to turn 5 so we can put another measurement on there!”  It’s fun to compare how Lilly and I were the same height when we were born and Jocelyn and I were exactly the same height at 2 years old, etc.