Missing in Action, back for a Recap

I haven't the slightest idea what I've been doing instead of updating my blog so that all the many, many blog readers (all 4 of you!) can see pics of the major goings on at the Qualls house. I guess we've had a busy few weeks.

First of all, Rylan and I quit our jobs a few weeks back. Mine was a part-time gig at the Children's Hospital GI Lab as a nurse. I will still go back, maybe twice a month, starting in December. Rylan's job was to be super cute and get tons of love and kisses at the Tiny Town in East End. He LOVED his job. The only problem was that if said love and kisses contained even a smidgen of wayward bacteria, a nasty illness would ensue.

Also, Rylan had his very first Halloween. Rob and I didn't know what to do when you only have one kid and he can't eat any of the candy and you have a neighborhood that isn't PERFECT for trick-or-treating. We got lucky. Rylan's Aunt Tammy came for a visit and we hung out with her. We went to a chili-cookoff (no pictures, sorry), went over to our friend Elizabeth's for dinner, and went to a few houses on our block to show off the always adorable, but even more so because of a special Sock Monkey outfit, Rylan. Then we hung out on the porch and watched all the kids come and go. Rylan could watch other kids all day and all night, everyday of the week. It was a very cute, very good day.

Someone had an issue wearing a hat

Catching a ride from dear ole' dada

Waiting for the treaters with Aunt Tam

Hanging with our pumpkins, Angry and Goofy

More to come on one certain little boys 1 year birthday. Lots 'o' friends, family, green icing, and fun. I promise to be more prompt. We are knee deep in ear infection number 1,338 and I feel that rocking little love bumps the blog out of the way for now.

Good-bye Britney, Hello Taylor Swift

When Rylan was a newborn, super-crazy Britney had just come out with Womanizer. I sang it all the time. It was on my "get off your booty and clean" soundtrack. It's catchy. Then Rylan started smiling and giggling. I noticed he smiled and giggled when I sang Womanizer. So I sang it more often and with gusto. This was a nice situation for both of us until I decided I needed to learn all the lyrics if I was going to whole-heartedly endorce Super-Crazy's song. So I went on a four mile walk and played Womanizer on repeat. I learned lots of the lyrics, but found that maybe it wasn't K-Fed, her mom, or back to back pregnancies that sent Britney over the edge. It was her own music. I now cannot play Womanizer without feelings of anxiety.

I'm now hooked on Tween Taylor Swift's song You Belong To Me. In typical Sara fashion, I only know a smidge of the song and choose to sing that repeatedly. I give it some umpfh when I sing it to Ry-bear just so he can realize its the new "Womanizer." Its just a tiny bit more age appropriate.

I have learned some actual kid-friendly songs at the little Storytime we go to, and Rylan does enjoy them. But Taylor Swift says "you've got a smile that could light up this whole town." I'm pretty sure she was talking about Rylan, not a Jonas Brother.

B.C.B

It was bound to happen.

He is almost 1 (sigh....)

He has been a precious angel baby 99% of his life and any actions on his part to the contrary have been blamed on either illness or teething. Not many almost 1 year olds (sigh....) have had illnesses in the double digits and grown 10 teeth. Its hard, so any crazy behavior on Ry's part has been well overlooked.

Rylan was a Bad Church Baby (BCB) this morn. He did that thing that used to drive me crazy where he wanted to come to me, then back to Rob, then back to me. The minute you would take him, he would lunge (his 27lb body!) over to the other. He then pulled the lady in front of us's hair, he threw his cup, he shouted Dada so it would echo, and he pulled my shirt down in the front so that Jesus saw all of Sara's glory.

Back to the cry room we go. We had a good run. Once we found this church, Christ the King, we were hooked on their child friendliness, wide pews, and loud singing to cover babe's cries. There is usually enough going on and other kids to look at that Rylan is enamored and doesn't make a peep.

The BCB is turning the big 1 next weekend. So sad, yet excited. Its been positively the best year of my whole life. If all the crapola illnesses still got us where we are today, I'll take them, because the payoff for our troubles is priceless. He is a great big ball of total preciousness! He is so loving and snuggly. I haven't posted pics of him crawling, but he is all over it now! We are working on walking, he is still a little iffy about wanting to go it alone. I think the fact that he is 7-10lbs and 3-5 inches over other kids his age gives him a lot to have to learn to balance.

The BCB is sleeping, and I am learning that when he sleeps, I need to get moving. I tried to teach him to dust, but he only wanted to eat the rag, dust and all. I assume this would mean that I will still be doing the cleaning for awhile.

His Indian Name is One Sock. Here is One Sock sad about the rain.

Crawling through his fish tunnel.

SAHM continued......

I've mentioned before that I've discovered websites where Stay At Home Moms teach you how to live on very very very little. I'm hooked. The world wide web is my oyster, and that oyster is more confusing than a Human Anatomy class after a Physiological Chemistry class with a Medical Terminology mixer. These ladies have so mastered the coupon and on-sale world, that their weekly grocery budget is $60 for families of 5-8! I don't lie. And they have pictures of all the groceries that they got for like $19. One girl (my fam has heard this story) even puts pics of her "feminine products" and brags about how cheap they were. I have been researching these sites and trying to learn their lingo and such, but I got all discombobulated. I haven't even quit my job and I've sent my stress level in overdrive just trying to calculate a store coupon, mixed with a manufacturer coupon, subtracted from a sale price, and will this particular product give me Registar Rewards, or Kroger-Bucks, or 10 cents a gallon off gas, or a gift card for something I don't need?

Here's the deal. We looked at finances and put together a budget that is very flexible. We won't end up sleeping in a tent made of expired coupons if I don't learn the Stay at Home Mommy on a budget plan that these ladies have. Simply cutting back on eating out, continuing my coupon clipping and cooking at home progress that I've already made will do just fine. But, once I realized that was out there, I feel challenged to conquer it. I did have a week were I kept the groceries down to $70. So proud. Had to talk about it. Then I followed it by this week, with much much much more than that already spent, and Rylan down to a small stash of only 6 diapers. But, I'll get there.

One lady gets $5 per online survey that she takes. I tried it, it took 10 years to finish one survey, I thought of all the things I could have done during that time and all I got was a lousy $5. But, seriously, why didn't somebody tell me about those surveys while I was on bedrest? I could have made Rob and I millions! I will probably just stick to hanging out with Stink Bottoms for awhile and learn the ropes of being a stay at home mama. I do like to give my opinion though.........

So don't look on the blog tomorrow expecting a pic of the tampons I picked up for 45cents. But if I get a butt-load of groceries for $19, I probably would feel compelled to post a pic. Just keeping it real.

I know our real reason for me quitting was for Rylan's health this winter, but I'll give you my back up reason in a photo.

I just simply love this boy.

Bored Shmored

Counting down the days till Ry and I are coworkers. I've gotten some comments about how bored I'll be. I'm aware it might not be as stimulating as a pediatric colonoscopy. I am also aware that the minute I realized I get to (for sure!) hang out with Rylan full time and work maybe twice a month, a huge smile graced my face. I know I'll get bored. I know if Ry could talk, some days he would say "take me to my Tiny Town." I also know that I love love love being his mommy. I love being home with him and taking him to fun places. I also know that if there is any way taking him out of daycare will make him less sick, I'll do it. I also know that if we have another year like the previous year (illness wise) I'll be blogging from a padded room. RSV, broken foot, bedrest, ear surgery, tongue surgery, bronchitis, Fifth's disease and Piggy flu nearly made the whole house Crazy Town. We deserve some good wholesome healthy family fun. Not that the past year has been a bad one. Its been the best year of our lives. We just would assume not repeat certain aspects, that's all. So, I'll take some boredom. Bring it.

In the story group we go to, they sing a song

Shake, shake, shake

Shake your moraccas

Shake, shake, shake

Shake your moraccas

They give the kids 0-2 years old all mini-moraccas and its the most adorable thing you've ever seen. The other night, I was making Poppyseed Chicken and Rylan and I did a version called

Shake, shake, shake

Shake your Ritz crackers

Shake, shake, shake

Shake your Ritz crackers

He's a super help in the kitchen. Especially if the help requires crunching up some Ritz crackers.

P.S. I promise to post more when I finally get done at this dad gum job!!!! I've been a mommy and nurse for 10 months now, but I am all of the sudden very overwhelmed. I think the fact that Rylan is no longer happy to sit in one place and play with his sock monkey has something to do with it. November 12th please come quickly.

SAHM

So, I kinda quit my job. I am uber excited. Ever since I went back to work 9 months ago, a little part of Rob and I have wanted me to stay home. At the time, I was coming off of a 4 month leave and my job had created a part-time position especially for me. I just didn't feel like I could leave them at that time. We toyed with the idea several times since then, especially when we were in the midst of a bad illness. When the swine flu hit before October even began, the straw broke the camel's back. It was time to get Rylan out of daycare and stay home.

The truth is, I've been trying to act like a stay-at-home mom AND still work. I did the homemade baby food thing. I go to the story time and joined a little mommy group to go to the park and such. I like it and I miss doing it when I'm at work.

At the same time, I'm scared of being completely out of the working world. I am trying to work out a plan so that I can go in for 6 hours or so once a week. Just to keep my foot in the door, keep my seniority and remember how to be a nurse. Some mom's have a mother's day out, I'll just go to a hospital for mine.

So, as of November 12th I will be a SAHM. Stay at Home Mom. Trying to be as fun as Rylan's friends at the Tiny Town. Trying to make my house cleaner and my bills lower. Did you know people out there have whole websites just to teach you how to get the most bang for your buck at Walgreen's, Kroger, and Wal-Mart???? Seriously, the first time I read it, I felt like I needed an Accounting Degree from Harvard. Its almost as hard to understand as LOST. There are coupons and register rewards, BOGO, rebate slips, then all the sudden they have a stack of groceries for $30. HUH? I'll get it. Someday.

It might mean that we have to put all the vacations I come up with in my head on hold for awhile. We might be driving our 2000 and 2003 (paid off!!!) vehicles till they die. When Rylan and I go to eat with Rob during his lunch break, it will be more a shared $5 Footlong than a Cobb salad at YaYa's. But the payoff will be so worth it. For one, we are hoping, Rylan might stay a touch healthier this winter.

Here are some pics of my boys and I on a fabulous fall day last weekend. Rylan loves pumpkins. The look. The touch. The veggie of our lives.

Is this how the Cocker Flu starts?