Update Post

No Shampoo (Previous Post)

I quit. I know. I suck. I just couldn't do it anymore. It wasn't getting any better and it made me feel really bad about myself. My hair felt like an old dirty wet mop. I felt dirty and awful all the time.

I'm sure it would have turned around eventually, but I am already fighting depression as it is so I felt like it wasn't the right thing for me right now.

But, I am showering a lot less. And when my shampoo runs out, I will be going to the local natural foods store to find a better shampoo for the environment. Any suggestions on what I should be looking for?

Financial (Previous Post)

Unfortunately, there's nothing new to report here. I only have one part time child left. I haven't had any success with getting new kids. What has always worked in the past is putting an ad in the paper in late August. Things are going to be really hard between now and then.

I had hope that two kids would be coming back when their Dad found a new job, but that is not looking good. Their parents had them still getting on and off the bus here everyday with the goal of them coming back soon, but just last week they changed the bus stops to their own house to save gas money. I understand why they did it, but it was heartbreaking. They kids gave me a card that said they will never forget me. They had been coming here for four years.

We contacted our student loans about getting a forbearance. Adam was able to get 7 months. I was only able to get two months. That was disappointing. But at least we have until the Fall for Adam's loan. I hated doing it, but it needed to be done. We'll be paying his loans until we're in an old age home anyway...what's 7 more months, right?

It's hard to cut more from a budget that was already cut when we made the decision to adopt, but we're trying. The biggest change we've made is that we've stopped all eating out/ordering in and I have been cooking a lot more.

Thanks to H from Soldier To Mother for helping me with making my own laundry detergent!

It's really hard not to spend any money when things come up. Like needing a new frying pan. Or Adam's shoes getting worn down so his socks get wet anytime the ground is wet at all. Or our good sheets getting worn down resulting in a giant rip in them. Hopefully those are things we can take care of when we get our tax money. We did our taxes earlier this year than ever before!

I bought discount Valentine's Day chocolate yesterday and I have felt incredibly guilty about it since. I guess that is the really hard thing. Always feeling guilty. Always feeling like I'm doing something wrong. We are in this financial situation because of me.

 

Co-Sleeping (Previous Post)


It's still going very well. We love having Jayden right with us during the night and knowing he is getting the sleep he needs. It's a lot less stress overall.

There have been sacrafices. Like giving up watching TV in bed until I fall asleep. For as long as I can remember I have always fallen asleep watching TV. That was a really hard habit to break.

It does give a new meaning to parenting being a 24 hour a day job, but it won't last forever and I know when we move him to his own bed I will miss this time with him.

Best of all- We all get SLEEP!

Will You Be My Valentine?

Yes, I Know It Is February

I didn't blog about Christmas because of all of the job related bad news that happened right after. I just wasn't in a good place and couldn't do it. But, now I want to. Yeah, I know it's February. :)

Ben and I hanging out.

Grandpa as Santa's Helper!

Cousins

I love how Ben is all turned around and stretching to see Jayden.

DANCING

Jayden kept everyone entertained with his dancing.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Jayden was actually interested in opening his presents. It was so fun to watch him ripping the paper open.

Once you take the toys out, this box makes a nice canoe.

Hehe. Look at Ben's face.

Signing "baby." He signed baby everytime he saw Ben. Especially if Ben cried- he was very concerned that someone needed to take care of the baby.

Jayden loves hanging out with Uncle Eric.

Ben got one of those frogs that holds bath toys. Jayden has the same one and he was so confused why Uncle Arthur had his bath frog. He kept signing that he wanted his bath toys out of it. Finally Grandpa took him into the bathroom to see his frog and pick a toy out.

This picture if from Halloween. He loved this Frankstein. You press it down and he pops back up and makes a noise or says Happy Halloween.

My Mom got this doll for him for Christmas and as soon as he opened it, he tried pushing it's head down. I didn't understand what he was doing at first, but then we realized the doll has the same hair as Frankenstein. When he saw the hair, he must have thought it was the same kind of toy. I also got him a doll, but he only does it with this one. He still tries it every once in a while.

*Note- Usually the pacifier is only allowed for sleeping, but he was sick and it was late by the time we opened presents, so we made a pacifier exception :)

I love these pictures my brother took, but you can really see how sick he was over the holidays.

Aunt Christy reading The Monster At The End Of This Book on the ipad. Jayden loved it.

In this picture Jayden has an ipad, a blackberry, and an iphone. Uncle Eric is the coolest.

Dancing on New Years Eve

He actually has a wide variety of "moves" but I think he was a little overwhelmed by everyone! Still a cute video :)

Thank you for letting me blog about Christmas in February :)

I Love Birthday Parties

I'm not having a second birthday party for Jayden.

So, why did I spend hours last night planning one?

And why am I on pinterest now looking at more ideas?

A Typical Night At Our House :)

And I wouldn't want it any other way :)

Weekend Of Groupons

We have had a very strict 'spend no money' budget for the past month, but over the weekend we had three expiring Groupons that had to be used. It was nice to be able to get out and pretend we had money for a weekend.

Although, I don't recommend waiting until the last day to use some Groupons. For example, we had one for a ravioli shop and when we went the only kinds of ravioli left were cheese and pumpkin. We saw a long list on their website and were really disappointed. They said a lot of people using Groupons had come that day. So, lesson learned.

One Groupon was for a restaurant that we thought might not really be the kind of place that was toddler friendly. My parents offered to watch Jayden. I was sad when we got there and saw a table with young kids. It made me miss Jayden. I know I am supposed to say it was nice to get out without him. I know I am supposed to say we loved our date and time alone. I did love going out with Adam, but we both agreed it would have been more fun with Jayden! Maybe it's an infertility thing. We had 10 years of meals just the two of us, wishing we had a baby. Now that we have him, everything we used to do is now more fun with him.

It was our first time going out to dinner without him since he was born. My parents are the only people who have watched him and that was only twice. Once while I was working on things for his birthday party and the other time Adam and I used the time to get stuff done around the house!

It felt so grown up have a "baby-sitter" and go out. It brought back memories of my parents going out when I was a kid. I remember my Mom wearing perfume and special clothes and jewelry. I wondered if Jayden noticed that too. I showed Jayden my ring and he looked at it, but seemed pretty disapointed that it didn't do anything when he pressed it. I am sure the skirt confused him since he's never seen me wear one before, haha.

It was a nice break from reality. Especially since I hadn't left the house in days.

No Shampoo

I have been doing the no shampoo thing for a week and a half now. Any of you tried it?

I want to like it. I really do. It's cheaper and so much better for the environment.

But, it's really not working for me.

I feel like it's really hard to cover all my hair since the baking soda and water don't lather up like shampoo does. And it doesn't seem to be cleaning my hair at all.

In the beginning it was okay, but now my hair just keeps getting more and more oily. I thought maybe adding more baking soda would work, but it's just getting worse. My roots are fine, but the rest of it feels like I left conditioner in and forgot to wash it out.

I've been mixing baking soda and water to clean my hair and then rinsing with apple cider vinegar and water. Last night I tried putting some baking soda straight on my hair and then rinsing it out and then washing with the baking soda and water mix. Even that didn't work.

If any of you want to talk me out of quiting now...please do :) Am I doing something wrong?