My New Diet

No- I'm not trying to lose weight. Thanks to Eliza, I am now on a no milk, milk products, or whey, or casien, etc., DIET. In case you didn't know, I have been on this diet before. Miriam was allergic to cow's milk when she was a baby. Since I breastfeed, they get the milk protien through my breast milk. So this means I have to cut out this product from my diet. Eliza showed the signs this weekend (blood in her poop). I am a little down. Not that I am not willing to sacrifice for my children to be healthy, but I will be giving up so many things I love and having to work harder to make food. I can't have milk, half & half, sour cream, ice cream, butter, or cheese. I have to make pretty much everything from scratch since most packaged foods have some kind of milk product in them. My grocery budget is probably going out the window since I will pay extra to buy some pre made organic/allergy free products out of convenience. Thankfully, Miriam outgrew this allergy by the time she was 1, so I know this is just a temporary thing. I just was hoping Eliza wouldn't have this. I got lucky with Lily I guess. One good side effect is that I will lose weight. Making everything from scratch, eating healthier, and not many sweets will help that. Don't worry though- I will find ways to make sweets so that I can eat them. I can make a milk free cobbler and fudge pie already. Now if I can figure out brownies, cake, and cookies. Thankful, I can probably look up some good vegan recipes on line. I will probably eat more candy which I really don't care for. I am very thankful that there are so many alternatives easily available now.

Grocery Savings

I have decided to post my grocery savings each week. Mainly to keep track for myself. My goal is to spend under $100 a week and save 50% off my bill. Right now I am still stocking up on some things, but I can't do much of that because I have very little room in my tiny kitchen. I am getting better at saving. I watch the ads and search for coupons. I also plan our meals. All of this helps get my bill down. I have a lot of help from other blogs, especially http://southernsavers.com/. So this is how I did this week:
I shopped at Food Lion and Publix-
Total Bill: $247.22
Total store savings: $ 86.34
Total Coupons: $ 28.19
Total OOP: $ 132.69
Saved: 46.3%

Lily's Haircut

I love Lily so much. She brings so much excitement and stress into my life. Yesterday, her and Miriam were cutting with scissors. I told them to keep them in the dining room with me. Later, Miriam was looking for Lily and I saw that she was hiding under a blanket in the playroom. She loves to hide so I thought nothing of it. Later I noticed a chunk of hair come off her head. I thought it had just been pulled out, but she told me no she had cut it. Last night I went to cover up with the blanket she had hid under and saw chunks and chunks of hair. It really doesn't look too bad, but she cut it all from one side and you can tell it is shorter. I will be watching her more closely when she has scissors now. I really can't believe she did that because she loves her long hair and won't let me cut it. She says she wants to be like a princess. She won't even let me cut it to even it out.

House Back on Market

Well, our house has not sold in 6 months and is now back on for another 6 months. Of course, we have not shown the house for 2 months due to Eliza's birth. I am finally feeling on top of things again so the house will be cleaner. I think my parents and I have decided to not buy a house together. They are tired of waiting on our house to sell and it was hard to find something we all agreed on. They are now seriously looking for a house of their own. So now I am looking for a house to fit our needs. Hopefully ours will sell this spring and we will find something we love. I can't wait to get a bigger house and a nicer yard. Also, I really want to move to the Hixson area. We will be closer to our church and all the members which is important to me. Plus I will be closer to a Publix and Target- my 2 favorite stores.
On another note- it is cold!!!! I really need to get out today and do some errands, but it is so cold. I am afraid I will have to though to get my free krispy Kreme doughnut! I also have a good coupon I need to use today. I guess I'll have to brave the weather, but I hate to subject the kids to it. We'll see.

Pictures

Static meet Lily


New Years Celebration

A toast to the New Year

World of Wheels show with Dad

Typical Govt. Mistake

I lost my mother's copy of Eliza's birth certificate so we had to order a short copy from the state to get her on our insurance. Jeremy handled this a couple of weeks ago. He finally remembered to bring it home Friday. I was looking at it and say to Jeremy- " They have her birthday wrong". They have it listed as October 17, not Nov. 17. Jeremy did not even notice. So now I have to figure out how to get that changed. How did the state even make this mistake??? It was right on the forms sent in. I thought this was kinda funny!!

New Year

I can't believe I haven't posted this year. My days are going by so fast and yet slow. We are not getting out much because it is either cold, rainy, or both. I want to tell so much and yet it is all just day to day stuff. My girls had a great holiday. They got lots of stuff. We celebrate New years and the girls got a few little things and both got American Girl Bitty Babies from us. They love them, but I don't know what I was thinking buying Lily a $42 baby doll. She is not attached to anything and tears everything up. At least I can tell her to give Miriam back her doll and get her own. They are both being little mommies right now. Eliza is growing and changing so quickly. It is really sad how fast she is growing. I want her to stay a baby and already she doesn't seem that way to me. Well, Eliza is crying. I want to put some pics of of New years party soon as well as other things!