4 to 6 months

So obviously we have been very busy. In the last 3 months Kylie has had a cold and a stomach virus...which she also gave to her momma, she has learned to sit up, pull up when holding your fingers, bounce in the jumper, say dada and momma, gotten her first tooth, started eating, learned to laugh,and I am sure there are more little things but these are the big things. So here's a quick recap so I don't forget what happened each month. 4th month: -Kylie began baby talking mostly just coos -we started her out on cereal which she hated! so we backed off of the cereal and just gave her plain foods until about 2 weeks ago. She started by eating sweet potatoes, bananas,carrots, pears, and apples. -The 4 month and into the beginning of the 5th month was the hardest time with Kylie. She fussed a lot. The only thing that would make her happy was for you to hold her and walk around. But every stage is temporary and once we got into the 5th month things started getting better. 5th month: -Began to sit up. -By the end she started saying dada -able to play with more and more toys -she rolled over -started playing in the exersaucer 6th month: -Perfected sitting up -started eating cereal again; we advanced her foods a little more and she did pretty well; the basic rule of thumb is she will eat anything with a banana in it -foods included: carrots, avocado, pears, apples, plums, bananas, chicken, peas, squash, green beans, rutabagas, & eggplant- unless you feed her these items individually off your plate she will not eat any of them by themself (except for the fruit) -started saying momma -started bouncing in the bouncy seat -beginning to show an interest in crawling -got her first tooth! teething started in January so we are thrilled! -of course she wants everything in her mouth...in particular paper. She is just wonderful! Being a parent has changed our lives. We just love her! Here are some pics of the last few months. I cannot wait to see her in the coming months it is so amazing how much she is growing and learning.

Kylie Videos

Hello all. This is Kyle. Just posting a couple videos of Kylie. Kylie probably telling me she doesn't want to be in her jumper. Kylie dancing with mommy. BTW, while I was posting this, I have now realized an unforeseen annoyance in naming my kid after myself. Everywhere I have typed Kylie, I typed my name by mistake. Oh well, vanity has a price.

Kitchen Backsplash

This weekend we finally put in a backsplash in our kitchen. When I say we it was really Daniel (a guy that works with Kyle) and Kyle. They did a great job. It took all weekend but it turned out really well. The backsplash was actually my Christmas present from Kyle. I have to say that I really wanted to get this project done but it got off to such a rocky start. I drove all over the place trying to find the tiles I wanted and the right design. So when it started off so rocky I was nervous about how actually putting it in would go but luckily Daniel has done this several times so it went extremely smoothly. Here are the before and after pictures. Thank you Kyle and Daniel!

One small accomplishment

I have been try to coupon for almost a year now and to say I have not been good is an under statement. I feel like I have spent more than I have saved by just trying to coupon. But yesterday I finally had a small break through. Let me start by telling you how I used to coupon. I would purchase the paper and then each week go to southernsavers.com to see what Publix had on sell for the week. Well, for several months I did this and I would save at the most $12 and I would waste a good 30-45 minutes trying to clip the coupons. So after a few months I just gave up. Then this week a friend of mine/family member on Kyle's side told me about these 2 ladies in Athens, AL called "two thrifty sisters". They are a lot like southern savers but a little bit better in my opinion. They lay out all of the sales that Publix is having for the week and which newspaper to get the coupons from (southern savers does this as well but they are not always as accurate with the dates). So yesterday, I went to the two thrify sisters web page to get the coupon deals, I printed out the online coupons, and then I went home and Kyle helped me cut on the newspaper coupons. Unfortunately, in my couponing frustration I got rid of several papers from the month of November which were actually necessary for this week's sale but I still did okay. I say I did okay because so many people I know that coupon will spend $20 on $200 worth of groceries. I am no LB (Laura Beth), she is the one who started we on couponing. She blogs frequently about her couponing success and every time I am just amazed at the success she has since I have not had much. Okay so I cannot give you the whole grocery list to give you an idea of what all I bought but I can tell you that I spent $116 dollars and saved $79 this week at Publix. I blame the $116 on the sale items being more expensive (like the B1G1 olive oil and things like that). I needed to stock up on them but in general they are more expensive plus me not having kept all the papers did not help either. So there you have it a small accomplishment after almost a year. Does anyone else coupon? If you are a good couponer and have tips please pass them along. I love stretching a buck! BTW, these ladies will be holding a seminar next Saturday from 9-12 in Madison if you want to attend just check on their blog.

Mexican Casserole

Here is a recipe I made up a couple of months ago. I absolutely love mexican food but most of the carbs do not come in wheat so I decided to figure out a recipe that would allow me to eat more mexican. It actually turned out really well and it is pretty healthy for you depending on how much cheese you use. 1 lb ground beef, browned and drained 1 package of taco seasoning 3/4 cup of water 1 bag of boil in a bag brown rice (family size), cooked 1 can of refried beans cheddar cheese, shredded Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the rice into a greased 9x9 pan. Then combine the ground beef, water, and taco seasoning in the hot pan you used to cook the ground beef. Pour the ground beef over the rice. Then spread the refried beans over the ground beef and then sprinkle the top with cheese. Bake for 45 min to an hour. Let me know what you think. BTW, this is a great casserole to freeze.

3 Month Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures that my friend, Ashley Turnbull, took of Kylie as her 3month pictures.

More pics