Hudson and Bailey

Hudson and Bailey are so in love. They have started doing everything together. Hudson follows her around, he feeds her from his highchair, they look out the front door together, she goes in to his room with me to get him out of his crib, she lays by the tub at bath time. I could write a million things that they do together. Here are some photos or the little buddies.

Eating breakfast


Sharing my bedroom shoes and a little rub


Looking out the front door

Double Coupons

For weeks I have heard people saying how much money they save during Harris Teeter double coupon week. We spend between $100 - $130 a week at the grocery store. That does not include my weekly Costco run for formula, milk, meat and cereal. (We only buy diapers once a month so that $40 is not included) And lately we have been buying our fruits and veggies at the Farmer's Market, that is another $30. So, I decided that I was going to clip coupons and take a stab at it. Jonathan would be so proud of me if I saved money.

I cut coupons Sunday, went online to Coupons.com and read Mrs. Moneysaver. I made my list, labeled which items I had coupons for and headed to the store. I left the boys at home because I wanted to have full concentration on saving money.

Guess how much money I saved.............. $35. I spent at least an hour looking for coupons and all I saved was $35. Not to mention, I still spent $113.46. $35 is pretty good but some people save $70 and leave only spending $12.

I still have to go to Costco and the Farmer's Market. Couponing is not for me. I do not like it and juggling all of those little pieces of paper, a grocery list, a pen and pushing a shopping cart is not fun.

Side note- I had a very embarrassing moment in the meat section. Jonathan is in charge of buying the meat because I get very grossed out. A styrofoam plate with a raw piece of meat covered in blood and wrapped in plastic does not appeal to me. A little throw up is coming up my throat as I type. Anyways..... I was looking for pot roast and shockingly that is not how it is labeled in the store. I had no idea what I was looking at. I must have walked past all the meat 10 times before I finally asked the butcher, "excuse me, do you know what the technical term for pot roast is and where I can find it in this line?" He got a good laugh.

Reading Machine...

I have been on a reading kick lately. I have no idea what has gotten into me.

In the past few months I have read...

Baby Laughs by Jenny McCarthy. This book is sort of funny and a quick read. But I think it may have taken her 5 minutes to write.


Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler. I love Chelsea. She has no filter and reminds me a lot of my best friend Woob. Clearly she exaggerates on her life stories but I found myself laughing out loud.


Honeymoon by James Patterson. Suspenseful and very addicting. I read this book in 2 days.


Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand. This took a while to get into to, but it was so cute. Definitely a good book if you have a sister. Keep a tissue handy.


I finished Baby Proof by Emily Griffin last week. I love her books. This one is adorable.


I just started on The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I have heard fabulous things about it and I am excited to read it.


Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner is waiting for me on my bedside table. She is my very favorite author.

I would love to know what you are reading and if there are any must have books for the summer!

A smile for your Sunday

Happy Sunday. Let it all hang out..........

Dreaded Monday

Monday is my birthday. Usually I am counting down the minutes. Not this year. Nope. I want to hide under the covers. I will be 28. That just sounds old. 2 years from 30?!?!!? How did this happen to me?

Where did these crows feet come from? And this kangaroon pouch on my stomach? The gray hairs that randomly show up? It is too much. I am not ready for this. I want my youth back.

On a bright note..... Jon is taking the day off to spend with Hudson and me. Yipee!

My 1st Mother's Day

My 1st Mother's day exceeded any expectation that I had. I am so lucky to have my husband, my baby, mom, dad, sister and friends who made it so special. I was overwhelmed with phone calls, cards and text messages. Even 4 of my husband's friends called me.

My sweet husband put so much thought into making sure our weekend, not just Sunday, was fabulous. I do not think I can thank him enough. He is the sweetest, most thoughtful person.

I had a large part of Saturday all to myself. This rarely happens. My boys left the house and I was able to sun bathe with a magazine and a glass of champagne. Heaven.

Sunday I woke up with my favorite boys, went to a huge pancake breakfast (yum, yum), opened way too many presents, went shopping, went out to lunch, had more time to myself, went on a family walk and to the park and then feasted on a wonderful steak and shrimp dinner.

This was by far my favorite "holiday" ever. Thank you Jonathan and Hudson for making me feel so special. I thank God everyday for both of you. You are both the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is Sunday and I am so excited. I am so lucky to be a mom and be able to experience all the joy that comes from having a little boy. I do not remember what our life was like without Hudson. He makes everything so much more fun.

So incase my husband is reading this, here are the only 3 things I want to do Sunday...

Sleep until at least 9 (I will settle for 8).
Have a big blueberry pancake breakfast.
Spend the entire day with just my 2 boys. No one else. I may even unplug our phone and turn off our cell phones.

It is my day, right?!? No need to share it.

Happy Mother's Day! Make sure to tell your mom how much you love and appreciate her.... being a mom is not always the easiest thing. But it is the best thing!

Standing

Hudson started standing yesterday! He was pulling himself up all day and then last night Jonathan and I were playing with him and he stood alone for 4 seconds. He was not holding on to anything! He did it a few times. We are so proud.

Here he is standing. I kept trying to get one of him standing alone but our camera is too slow. Pardon the no pants.... sometimes it is just easier.

A year of waiting...

A looong year of waiting is finally over - Real Housewives of New Jersey starts back tonight!!!!! I remember watching the finale last year with a big bowl of ice cream on my pregnant belly.

This is my favorite show! I love 4 out of the 5 housewives and wish they were my friends. They are so funny and do not take bull from anyone. I often wish that I was more like them. I am so excited for this to premiere tonight!

Home alone

This past week, Hudson and I were home alone. We had a great time and are so thankful for all of our friends who kept us very entertained. I realized a few things this week.

1. I appreciate my husband so much. He is a wonderful dad and takes such great care of us. I hate being away from him but I think that it strengthens our love for one another and we both get so excited to see the other one again.

2. Hudson is a handful. This week he learned the art of a temper tantrum. FULL tantrum. Throwing himself down on the ground, legs and arms flying everywhere. He also learned how to go "straight as a board" when I try to put him in the car seat and highchair. While he does this, he looks at me and falls in to a huge belly laugh. I cannot help but to laugh with him. He is such a funny little guy. He is into EVERYTHING now and I am constantly chasing him around the house.

3. I feel really old. My back is aching, I am exhausted by 6 o'clock and I have no energy at the end of the day. But I cannot complain, if this is what it feels like to be a mom I am perfectly content with that.

4. I love and adore my friends, neighbors and my cousin David and his wife Jenn. They all rally around me when Jonathan goes out of town, meeting us for lunch, bringing dinner over, having play dates, inviting us to go places. It is wonderful and I am so thankful for them. We stayed extremely, extremely busy this week which helped our week to fly by.

5. Bailey is more work than Hudson. I do not know what it is with her but as soon as Jonathan leaves she becomes a nut job. She ran away twice, knocked Hudson over on more than 1 occasion and has now started jumping on her hind legs to eat off Hudson's highchair tray. Needless to say, she spent a few days at doggie day camp this week.

6. I spend too much money when Jon is away. We ate out for so many meals, did a few Target runs, bought new clothes for everyone, bought a dvd player for upstairs (finally), bought new plants, toys, etc. It is much easier to hide new things when my husband is not here :)

7. I love my life. I have always known this, but I realize more and more everyday how truly lucky I am. I am so thankful for what we have and I treasure it every second.

Here are some photos of our week....



The amount of toys is just getting out of control at this point. This is not even 1/3 of what we have.