Everyone deserves a little random sometimes

It's only Tuesday, but it has been a week! My little brain is tired and just way too crammed with thoughts right now to post any sort of coherent and intelligent post. (Not that I claim to be coherent or intelligent. It's just that tonight it would be waaaaaaay off.) So here is a handy dandy list format of what's going on.

*I'm a tad bit obsessed with couponing right now. CouponMom has totally made me a miser. I rarely buy any grocery item any longer if it is not on sale or has a coupon. It blows my mind how much money I was wasting before I started using the couponmom system. My original grocery bill tonight was $132.66. After coupons & store promotions, I paid $74.34! Grand total of savings of $58.32! And we are stocked up for an entire week. All 3 meals a day & snacks. Love it!

*Kyle has always teased me that my family has an unnatural love for pork products. The joke goes way back. I think he is right. After my grocery trip tonight, I made a list of everything in my freezers so we can use it all up. I had 7 packs of hotdogs, y'all. 7 packs. Not to mention the 8lb. spiral ham, 2 Hormel 81 hams, and pack of sausage. Pork, it's what's for dinner.

*Hubs and I have started working out together. My calf musles have never hated Kyle Van Nus more.

*Ace is oficially a momma's boy. He puckers out his bottom lip anytime someone takes him from me. I did a little bookkeeping today for my old boss, so the kids went over to my mom's. My mom said that Ace was in a terrible mood all day. Just fussy and crying, but didn't really seem like anything was wrong. He was an angel tonight after I picked him up. He just missed me! Hate that! (Yeah right.)


*And most importantly, please continue to pray for baby Alaina, and her parents, Scotlon and Stephanie. The update that I just saw was that Alaina is stable, but still being transferred to Eggleston to be in the absolute best care.

And what post would be complete without a picture of my little men.
Put me in coach, I'm ready to play. Ace was rocking that sweat band.

We found Jackson sleeping like this a few weeks ago. He is like his father and can fall asleep in the strangest positions. That bed rail has definitely held up it's end of the bargain!

Please pray for my friend

Update that I just received on facebook:
Alaina’s blood pressure is bottoming out. She is receiving a blood transfusion in hopes of stabilizing her, but if this does not work, Alaina will be transported to Egleston this evening. Please, please pray.


A sweet friend of mine, Stephanie, delivered a baby on Saturday morning. Alaina is in the NICU. Please pray for healing and peace for her parents, Scotlon and Stephanie. Here is the update I got from Stephanie's best friend, Hailey.

Alaina was born Saturday morning via emergency c-section because after laboring for several hours, her heartbeat kept fading from the fetal monitors. After she was born, the doctor found that she had been living in a severely significant amount of meconium for about a week. The doctor was able to remove a large amount of the meconium, but the remainder of it is preventing her from breathing properly & has to be dissipated by her body. She is making small improvements, but she still has a long road of healing ahead of her. Fortunately, every report that we have received from her doctor today has been encouraging.


You can visit Stephanie's blog here. We love you Stephanie, Scotlon & Alaina! Praying for a SPEEDY & FULL recovery.

5 months

How in the world can Ace be 5 months already??? He should still be my snuggly little newborn. But every single day, I'm getting a glimpse of a silly, wiggly, full fledged little boy. Ace is up to a lot these days! In this pic we were trying a little photo shoot. He is a mover and a shaker, so we didn't get that many great shots.
Bath time is still a favorite activity. He loves the water and kicks and splashes for a long time!
Yet again, I was trying to get some cute pictures and this is the result. Let me eat your camera, Mama!
Per his usual, Ace is a great eater. We stopped breastfeeding at 4 months, so he is getting formula plus baby food. So far, he has had: carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, avocado, peaches, blueberries, applesauce, pears, mangoes, apricots, bananas, and squash. He seems to love them all. He uses his mesh feeder to eat watermelon and cantaloupe.

Ace is trying all sorts of new things. He so badly wants to sit up. He is very, very close, but his little behind seems to be too round still.
Whoops! Thank goodness Daddy was right next to him to play catcher!
Ace is weighing in somewhere between 18-19 lbs. Still sleeping from 6:30ish to 6:30ish. He will through a curve ball every once and a while and wake up in the middle of the night. Last night he was up about every 2 hours. Hope that doesn't last! He is a pro at rolling over. True to our family tradition, he has about a million nicknames; which are: Acey, Acer, Aceyroni, Aceyronei and Cheese, Scooch, Scoochers, Scoochie, Poops, Poopsie. There are probably more that I can't remember! He has no teeth yet, but drools buckets and loves to chew on anything.

I'm so proud to be your Mama, Ace! You are so fun and I love getting to know you better every day. Happy 5 months, big man!

That just my baby Daddy

Kyle,

The other day you asked me if there were any letters to you on my blog. Here you go, babe. Your very own letter.

Where should I start? Should I start with telling you that you make me happy on a daily basis? Because you do. I am happy to be your partner in crime. I'm happy that we have this life together. I'm happy to be your helpmate.

I guess it would be appropriate to address in this letter how thankful I am for you. Thank you for working so hard for us. You go out everyday and do backbreaking work to provide for our family. I hate sweating just a little bit, and you sweat buckets everyday for us. Thank you. I'm not just thankful for you because of how hard you work. I'm thankful for the companionship you provide me with. I can truly say that you are my best friend. We have a good time together.

You are also the best Daddy. I think my favorite thing to do is watch you be Daddy to Jackson and Ace. You love them so much. I know you are exhausted at the end of the day, but you come in and get down and play with our kids. You are also such a big help to me with Jackson and Ace. I really do think we have this divide and conquer thing down. Thanks for the countless times you have cleaned up the kitchen for me, and made bottles for me, and watched the kids for me, and so on and so on.

I really could go on, but I'll end it with this. I just love you. You are an amazing man and I am so blessed to be your wife.

XOXO,

S.

Cabin trips & Ledford Luauing!

Last weekend we all headed up to the North Georgia mountains for some much needed family time. Our little family joined my mom and dad, and my sisters family at a cabin in Hiawassee. We went up on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday. Also, on Sunday my mom's side of the family, the Ledfords, had a reunion. It was such a fun time away, and so nice to catch up with everyone.

Ace was in diva mode.

Sweet boys by the creek.

All the Leford's.

My grandmother, Doris Ledford. I look up to her so much.


Sawyer on the horse. Love this picture.

My cousin Holli with Ace.

Action shot of John. The only grandson out of 9 grandchildren. And he's the baby.

Another action shot.

Sup, y'all?

Hey guys, Acey here. I'm taking my mom's blog hostage, because obviously she is a slacker. It's been over 2 weeks since she was around these parts. COME ON LADY!

First off, I met this really cute kid. He had a great personality too. Every time I would talk to him, he would laugh his head off. Good times.

Welcome to my crib. Literally. Big bro was visiting on this particular morning.

Oh, this guy. He is funny.
These two old farts went on a little trip by themselves last weekend. Something about "Uncle Rob" was in town and they wanted to go visit him. I've heard that dude gives some pretty sweet gifts. I'll stay in his good graces for sure. The rent's left me at my Nana's & Papa's for the night. That is a nice set up. I pretty much rule the roost!

I've been working on my tan.

So is Jackson. He's quite the professional swimmer.

Look! The water blurred out my private parts! (Or if you say it like Jackson, my "favorite parts". Ha!)

Trying to get in to shape. Working the exercise equipment like crazy.

I mean seriously, have you seen my thighs???

Peace out,

A dub.