A dreadlock

Here's a funny conversation I just had with Gigi.
me (noticing Gigi's hair as we get out of the car): "Gig, you've made a dreadlock in your hair."
Gigi: A dreadlock?
me: A dreadlock.
Gigi: Yay! A dreadlock! I'm so proud of me!

Just one of those moments that I wish could last forever.  Love my little girl!

Gigi & Grayson, Halloween 2011

Should I be worried if my daughter is her own imaginary friend?

Today Gigi runs into the bathroom and slaps me on the back of the legs then says, "Don't hit my mommy!" Then she says to me, "Gigi hit you!" I said, "Oh, you hit me?" Gigi says "No she did!" (pointing to herself). So I say, "Gigi hit me, but it wasn't you?" "Yes" she says. Then she whispers to herself, "Tell mommy you're sorry, Gigi." And then she turns to me, pats me on the arm and says, "Sorry mommy." WTW?!

If you're wondering what happened to the spider...

I think we bothered it too much and one day, it was gone. But then, we found a much smaller one under Gigi's window! I decided to leave that one alone.

Don't worry, I know I am weird

So I am dedicating this post to one of my favorite things about summer '11. No, not snowcones. Although I do love them, I have disappointingly only made it out for three snowcone runs this year. So that is probably one of the worst things about summer '11. But if you know me, you'd never, ever in a million years guess that one of my favorite things about this summer has been an arachnid. I really do hate spiders and have an irrational fear of them but I've been able to make peace with many spiders I find in my yard by researching them and knowing that they pose no threat to me & my family. (I still won't go into the crawl space though. The day I do will be the day I officially declare my arachnophobia over.)

Anyway, one such spider that I feel like I've really bonded with and actually make frequent visits over to the side of the house just to see how she's doing is a very special kind of spider. At first, when Eric found it, I was on the phone with him and he startled and said, "Oh there's a spider right here! I think its a hobo spider!" Of course, I was like, "Oooh! Kill it!" But he didn't. So when I got home I had to check it out. I took several pictures and then came in the house to begin sleuthing everything I could find about this spider. I really did spend over an hour researching and I came to find out that this spider is called a horned orb-weaver. This particular one is a cat-faced spider, or jewel spider. You can see the reason why it got both of these names in the pictures. It spins the classic orb web. Here's a some interesting facts about this spider: It spins a new web everyday and eats the old silk as a way to conserve energy. It is prevalent mostly throughout the west and can be found as far north as Canada (Alberta) and as far south as Arizona. This spider will lay an egg sac (Its "magnum opus") and then die shortly thereafter. When the eggs hatch, the spiderlings will let a bit of silk out into the breeze and fly away, possibly hundreds of miles! We may never have another spider like this in our yard and I've never seen anything like this one before so I feel very special. Its like we have our own little Charlotte from "Charlotte's Web", which is coincidentally one of Gigi's favorite movies right now. In fact, its not just me who wants to go visit our spider friend everyday, Gigi has started to request going out to see the spider too! She is cautious about it but has a very healthy curiosity about it, and all the other bugs in our yard and its so fun to see her amazement with them all.

So these first two pictures were taken in August, back when I thought the spider was pretty good sized. Now compare these with the next two and you'll see that the spider has, at least, doubled in size over the last month. Also, the markings and coloring have changed too.

Now in these two pictures, you'll note in the top photo where it gets the name "Cat-faced" from. See the two horns the look like cat ears and the white line running towards the front? Plus, its somewhat fuzzy! In the bottom picture you can see why its sometimes called a Jewel spider though. Its like a reverse black widow- only not poisonous or aggressive.

Actually, because she is so curious about spiders and bugs, I thought it would be a good idea to let her watch a national geographic video of a jumping spider attacking a bee that I found on youtube. Well, it turns out this was NOT a good idea. It totally freaked her out and she's completely obsessed with it. She will bring it up all the time and tells everyone about it. (Of course, I usually have to explain what she's talking about as she's telling them, "The spider gets the bee! The spider jump! The spider eat the bee!) She also asks to watch the video almost daily but I'm trying to make her forget about it because I know it scares her. Anyway, the point being, MPAA doesn't rate National Geographic videos so use your judgement and keep two year olds away from videos of animals of any kind killing other animals. Save that kind of stuff for the four-year-olds.

BBJ

I am pretty much the worst blogger. I think about doing it. I read other people's blogs. I even come up with post ideas and then... nothing... for over 7 months!! Well, finally, I decided to put a baby name poll on my blog because Eric and I are having the most arduous time naming BBJ (Baby boy Jones). I am 34 weeks right now and the doctor has said that if I progress at my checkups like I did last time, he'd induce me at about 38.5 weeks! That is only approximately 4.3 weeks away! I don't know if I am going to do this yet. Its so tempting! How nice would it be to have everything planned out? But at the same time, I have this feeling inside that tells me to wait and go into labor naturally because 1) It would definitely be more exciting! 2) Its the way nature intended it. 3) Curiosity, I guess, is the best word to describe it - the chance to see if this baby will come early like Gwyneth or later on. The chance to see if he will want to rush out as fast possible like Gwyneth or come more slowly during labor and other stuff like that. Plus, there's always the chance the baby would be born in the car, which is something I'd like to avoid, but what a great birth story! Decisions, decisions.

Anyway, I don't have any week-by-week pregnancy pictures with BBJ like I did with Gwyneth. I've just had random pictures taken of me for the most part. I think the random, real-life photos are adequate. Especially if the alternative of me posing with my belly always ends up looking as cheesy as this.

Yes, that is me and when I first saw this picture I laughed hysterically and then I vowed that no one would ever see this photo. Well, this just goes to show you, never say never because here I am posting it on my blog for all to laugh at! This is when I was 28 weeks and I felt so huge. Now I (kind of) like this picture because I look so teeny!

Now I'm just realizing this is also my first post about BBJ so I should do a little recap while I'm at it:

* This pregnancy has been pretty great for the most part. I was barely nauseous from weeks 7ish to about 13ish. It was never as bad as it was with Gwyneth or my first pregnancy with Anna (which was by far the worst sickness-wise). In fact, I was shocked that I could get up out of bed with an empty stomach and not have the immediate urge to vomit. I can function just fine on an empty stomach now, which was really never a possibility with either of the girls.

*I've been doing yoga through most of this pregnancy except I have to admit, its starting to get uncomfortable to do much more that child's pose and downward dog now! I am really looking forward to getting back to it post pregnancy. P.S. If you are looking for a great yoga studio in the Salt Lake/Murray area check out localyogaslc.com.

*I've had the most wonderful summer weather in which to be pregnant. Up until the last couple of weeks, I've not felt "the heat" at all. It has been a very mild, cool summer and I am so thankful for that. I love sunny days but I've been thankful for each and every overcast one too!

*I've noticed that this baby must be being carried lower than my previous pregnancies because he's never been in my ribs. I remember Gwyneth constantly jabbing and kicking my ribs and being so uncomfortable all the time. I honestly think Gwyneth bruised my ribs when she was in utero. BBJ just likes to jab me in the bladder every now and then.

*I was going to do a seperate post about things that are not okay to say to a woman just because she is pregnant but I think I'll just include that here. (By the way, yes, multiple people say these exact statements or something like them to me all the time.)

1. You're really getting big.

2. You're really starting to show.

3. You look like you're ready to pop!

4. Your arms are getting bigger.

5. You look bigger than you did last time.

6. You're really sticking out there.

7. Asking "When are you due?" or "How far along are you?" And then just looking you over and not saying anything else because you know they're thinking "Wow! I thought you'd be further along than that!"

8. Are you having twins?

9. You look miserable/uncomfortable etc.

Anyway, just tell pregnant women positive comments or don't comment at all and just ask them questions and let them tell you how they feel huge and awkward and uncomfortable. Because they do, and they don't need anyone else reaffirming that for them!

*On a more positive note, Gwyneth loves rubbing her baby brother in my belly. She has said more than once that she wants to name him "baby sister" and she'll often lift up her shirt and rub her belly and say "baby sister". Its so cute when I ask her to say hi to her baby brother she'll give my belly loves and kiss it and pat it and say "Hi baby!" We called him baby Grayson for a little while to try it out and now that name seems to have stuck with her because when we put together a little bouncy seat for him last weekend, she told someone that baby Grayson was sitting in his seat! I can tell she sort of gets its but not really. I'm not sure I really get it... you know that idea of another baby around here! Scary! Exciting... but scary!

Potty Time!

This picture is of Gwyneth the first time she sat on her toilet about 3 weeks ago. She had been pulling her pants down and saying, "I want toilet" so I got out her potty and started letting her sit on it. She actually has her diaper on here. Then, whenever she'd say she wanted toilet, I'd put her on it and just see if she'd actually go... which until now has always been nothing. Like I said, until now... Today is the first day that we put her on the toilet and she actually peed!! Yeah! So, I know that I shouldn't get my hopes up about her being potty trained by next week and I am totally laid back about it, but I thought this momentous occasion should at least be documented. This toilet plays a song when sensors in the bottom get wet so when she went, of course, the song started playing. Then she was so happy about it that she stayed on the toilet for several more minutes and kept saying, "I want song! I want toilet! I want song!" Eric tried to explain that the human body doesn't make pee on demand so she'd have to wait until next time she needed to go potty but she still kicked and screamed a little when Eric took her off the toilet.

So I haven't blogged in a long, long while so I thought I'd throw a few more pictures in this post while I'm at it. Like this one of Brooklyn and Gwyneth, after they'd pulled all the books off of the shelf and were quietly looking at them in her bedroom. I love it when they play this well together.

Poor Frankie and Roscoe, but especially Frankie because he's the more playful dog and he doesn't run away when Gwyneth comes near like Roscoe does. He gets tormented by Gwyneth on a daily basis. I was quick enough to be able to snap proof of this torture so when Gwyneth tries to tell me she was a perfect little sweetheart... boom! Out comes this picture! (She is pulling his hair and he is whining a little.)
I laughed so hard when I saw Gwyneth come out of her room with this Barbie dress on her head. She loved her newfound hat! She is a goofy little girl! Whenever Eric tells her she is goofy, she says, "I goopy!" Why can't they stay this cute forever?!

Bargain shopping is fun to do

I decided it was very fun to put my deals down in writing. So I thought I’d share the deal I scored at Rite Aid today. I just simplified everything as much as possible to create a very condensed version but if you are at all interested in knowing the exact way I did this (or pretty close to exact, I had a few better coupons) you can go to hip2save.com and find the Rite Aid deals post for this week.

6 Packs of Trident $6
1 Pampers Big pack (76 ct. size 3) $19.99
2 Pantene Shampoo/Conditioner $7
2 Oral B 3D White Toothbrushes $6
1 Playtex Gentle Glide Tampons 18 Ct. $4
2 Covergirl lipglosses $9
Subtotal: 51.99

Deduct $20.24 in coupons (I didn’t include the up+ rewards I earned from a previous transaction, which took off another $7, because I like to deduct them off the original transaction on which I earned them)
Deduct $23 in up+ rewards

Total Expense: $8.75, a great deal for just the diapers alone! Plus, the Pantene and Covergirl purchases I made today fulfilled my requirement to spend $30 on certain products to get a $10 rebate check! The toothbrushes I purchased leave me short $1.37 on a rebate for a $10 Rite Aid gift card when you spend $25 on oral care products, which I still have 2 weeks to fulfill so you better believe I will. (I used a riteaid gift card I earned previously to help pay for today’s trip). Once you start the “bargaining ball” rolling, it never stops!

August Days

We have enjoyed this summer. On Wednesdays, I babysit my neighbors kids: Austin, who just turned 3 and Brooklyn who is turning 1 on September 11th. While Brooklyn sleeps, we get to go outside and have fun in the sun. Now I'm stuck thinking of what to do while she sleeps in the morning when it gets cold outside. Here's a fun story about this picture- I asked Austin if he wanted an otter pop and he replied, "yeah". A few moments passed and you could tell he was thinking really hard. He looked up and said, "What's a water pop?" :) Needless to say, he liked "water" pops!

Gigi loves "Soes", or at least that's how she says it. It's "Soes, soes, soes" all day long!


Magnetic letters = fun for hours

Self-feeding at mealtime = fun for hours, or at least 30 minutes or so

She just started doing this thing where she tenses up everything until she starts to shake and pulls her shoulders up as high as she can and pulls her neck back. We laughed so much at her the first time, she just kept doing it. Here's a picture of her doing it. You can't really tell, but she is very rigid in this picture.

Last weekend we made it up to Richmond to visit with the Taylor's North and visit Paige's grave. Thanks to Aaron and Teresa for entertaining us, making us dinner and roasting smores with us.

WJ Pool Excursion

While Gma Ann was babysitting Ashton and Brice a couple of weeks ago, it worked out that Gigi and I could join them on a visit to the WJ swimming pool. I think Gigi enjoyed the pool most. Brice just wanted to hang out with her "wubbie" blanket and Ashton's fun was had but it was short-lived. Well, at least we got some cute pictures!

Ashton yelled "take a picture of me" so I did.

Brice and Gma Ann with wubbie. This was about the most fun Brice had.

Oh wait, no this was the most fun Brice had. And you can tell that she was not concerned with getting tan. Gigi made a fun game of trying the get Brice uncovered from the blanket. Brice was not amused by this game.

Action shot! Ashton loves having his picture taken. He'd always run up to see every picture I took of him.

Princess Brice. She's such a little cutie.

Gigi with one too many animal crackers in her mouth.

Ashton was funny; he heard me and Ann talking about different people "getting" (meaning genetically inheriting) tan skin, like Gigi, and he started laying out in the sun. Then after a couple minutes he asked us "do I look tan?" Next time you see Ashton, make sure to tell him how tan he's looking!

Wrapping up July

Since today is the last day of August, if I post today, I can at least say I'm posting once a month, right? Anyway, I thought I should put some fun pictures up to show our summer fun! Speaking of fun, let's start with our Jones Family Reunion 2010 at Island Park. This year's theme was "Western". Our little family. Gigi was a happier baby this time around and actually slept ok even through all the noise.

Crazy Cooper! He's a little acrobat.

Delicious steak - seriously, you can't find better anywhere. It was so good and not overcooked.

Gigi's first bike ride with the help of Doug. She rode it all the way up the driveway and loved it.

The annual crawdad capture.

Gigi's favorite thing to do, run away from us down the driveway.

We ended the reunion with a smile!

I love that we've had birds living in our bird house in our front yard for the last two summers. Here's a picture where you can see one of the baby birds peeking out.

Gigi is not afraid of heights. She scales this 3-step ladder with ease. She climbed up a 10-ft slide at an elementary school playground while my mom was babysitting her.

I turn around for one minute and she's inside the mop bucket screaming like a banshee and clapping her hands.

And then she made herself comfortable.

It was one of those messes that was well worth the cleanup time though... don't ya think?

Bargain shopping trip

Wow! Has it really been that long since I last blogged... time flies during the summer. Maybe I'll blog more now that its (single tear) almost over. Anyway, if you wonder how I spent alot of the time, I'll tell you...

I’ve never blogged about my shopping obsession but I’ve thought about doing it several times. I’m home sick today so I might as well. In case you don’t know, I’m obsessed… with bargains. It’s an addiction and I truly love it. It is obviously very telling about my lifestyle and the fact that I’ve never dealt with drugs or anything like that. To me, there is nothing like the high I feel after getting something for a fabulous deal. In fact, it’s really difficult for me to believe that people actually do pay retail for groceries. I have a hard time paying retail for anything! I frequent several different deal websites including grocerysmarts.com, freebies2deals.com, utahdealdiva.com, coupons4utah.com, and hip2save.com. I also receive daily deal emails from amazon.com, groupon.com and screamincoupons.com. Yes I do spend a good amount of time on my deal-seeking lifestyle and I understand it’s not for everyone, but it’s worth every minute to me because I enjoy it. Besides, its time better spent than watching TV or doing something else equally unproductive.

I must say that I do have my limits. I’ve realized that for me, the best deals are usually found at Rite Aid and Smith’s and so, each week I will usually visit these two stores. I am not one of those people who will spend a whole day running around to 5 different stores to just get the bargains at those stores. I can pass up a sweet deal when it’s just not “in the cards” for me because I’ve come to realize that another sweet deal is just around the corner.

So here’s where I get to brag about my most recent deals:
I shopped at Rite Aid today and here’s what I got:
1 20 ct. Tampax tampons $2.99
1 Pampers Cruisers size 3 jumbo pack $8.99
1 Pampers 72 ct. thickcare wipes $3.69
1 Tide HE Detergent 50 oz. $5.99
1 Men’s Nivea hair/body wash $3.00
1 Listerine Zero Mouthwash 500 mL $3.99 (side note: as a hygienist, I’m very excited about this new product from Listerine – it doesn’t contain Alcohol, which is a causative agent for oral cancer, but still contains the essential oils that make Listerine a great product to begin with.)
1 Boudreaux’s Buttpaste $3.99
2 Pepsi Max 20 oz. $1.49 each
1 Nivea lipcare $2.99
Subtotal: $38.61
Here are the coupons I used:
$5 off $25 purchase at RiteAid
$3 off Boudreaux’s buttpaste (Rite Aid coupon)
BOGO free Pepsi Max (I used one Rite Aid coupon and one Manufacturer’s coupon making them both free)
$1 Rite Aid coupon off Listerine
$2 coupon off Listerine Zero (both coupons make Listerine free)
$1 off Tampax
$1 off Nivea for Men
$2 off Boudreaux’s buttpaste (Manufacturer’s coupons, in addition to coupon above, I made $1 on this)
$3.50 off pamper’s wipes
$3 off Pamper’s diapers
$1 off Tide
Which brings the total out of pocket to : $13.13 (plus tax), a great deal but that’s not the end of it…
I received the following “up rewards”, which are coupons for a dollar amount that can be used on any non-Rx purchase. Essentially cash at Rite Aid.
$2 from Pampers
$1 from Listerine
$1 from Tide
$2 from Nivea Body
$1 from Nivea Lip
Brings our subtotal down to $6.13
I will receive the following Single Check Rebates from Rite Aid in the form of a check to be cashed at my bank at the end of the current Rebate period:
$1 from Tampax
$1.99 from Nivea Lip
Bringing my total for everything down to: $3.14! What the what?!
I will also mention that I didn’t really pay anything out of pocket because I just transferred a prescription there and received a $25 gift card for doing so. Wahoo!
Plus, I have a P & G (Proctor and Gamble) rebate for $110 in P&G coupons for $50 spent in P & G products. This transaction will add $21.66 towards that rebate. I actually only need $15 more to reach my $50 total and the rebate period goes from 8/20/2010 – 12/31/2010 so I’m thinking it won’t be a problem! I’m sure the $110 in coupons will go towards more free (or very close to it) stuff! Now can you see why I get so excited about this? And these kinds of deals aren't once in awhile. They can be found EVERY week!

P.S. If you've ever thought about couponing, right now, like immediately, is the time to get a newspaper subscription (Fri-Sun), you can get a whole year for $19.99 to either the Salt Lake Tribune or Deseret News. That kind of a deal is really unheard of. You can get up to 8 copies of either paper too! CRAZY! (I only get 2, and for our family that is plenty, altough there are times I think man, I wish I had another copy of that coupon but I really don't need it, ya know?) The regular rate is $64 for a year. But this offer is only around for like another week so jump on it if you're interested. I'm not being paid by anyone to post this by the way, I just wanted to share with my friends and anyone who might happen upon this blog. You can get this deal through utahdealdiva.com or freebies2deals.com. Just go to their links for newspaper subscription deals. I've dealt with Jessica from utahdealdiva.com and she's great!