For Example...

After seeing the previous video, Michael has been genuinely crafting this skill

Michael and Me

Sometimes Michael and I have a relationship like this:

Transformers:Robots in Disguise

Richard is a huge fan of the movie, Transformers. Let me give you an idea of how far this love has gone. He watches it at least three times a week, and it's now one of Michael's top movie picks next to Toy Story and Cars. Countless times, I have seen them watching the first clip of Transfomers over and over, where Optimus Prime is starting the story by saying, "Before time began there was The Cube." Michael has it memorized, and then he'll immediately start humming the music that follows. It's pretty adorable to be honest.

Every holiday, or reason to celebrate, Richard asks for a Transformer toy. And believe me, he'll find any reason to celebrate.
"I got an A! Let's go to Toys R Us!"
"Michael, you ate all your dinner! Wanna go to the store?"
Here's the most common one, "Honey, let's go somewhere."
"Where?"
"I dunno."
"Well I don't want to spend any money."
"Okay, let's just go to Target and walk around."
"Fine."
I know. I know. I fall for it every time and then give him a hard time when we walk out with yet another Transformer.
Okay, I exaggerate, but just a little bit. We don't walk out with one EVERY time. Richard is good at reminding me of that. And you know, we don't even own the second Transformers movie, so I guess it isn't that bad.

To be honest, I think the Transformers toys are pretty cool. Those toys are for no beginners. I can't transform them. Richard has a friend who frequently comes over just to play "Transformers." You guys are how old? I took some pictures of them last time they were here, sitting on the couch twisting and turning, cranking and flipping plastic around focusing so intently on what they were doing, they couldn't even smile for me (the first time). After much prompting, I finally snapped their attention and got a decent picture. Here let me show you!

Oh wait. I can't.

Why? Because, our computer hard drive crashed, and with it all of our pictures and videos that we thought we had backed up, but apparently not. Thank goodness for the blog and what I have posted here. Although, this is only pieces of cute little videos I had of Michael.

In a way, I felt like my memories disappeared with the hard drive. I exaggerate again, but really, I was very, very sad.

As soon as I get our video recording camera up and running again I will get Michael to say his line and humming, and maybe he'll even "transform" himself for your viewing pleasure. But now it's almost 11pm and I must get ready for bed.

Last night, Richard came in to bed several hours after me. I guess I was ready to start a conversation with him. I turned to him and said, "Before time began....."
"What?" Richard replied.
Of course I couldn't leave out the most important part, so I hollered, "THE CUBE!!!"

I can be quite a hilarious person at night. Too bad I don't remember any of it.

This blog post title is probably going to be longer than the blog post itself.

I've learned when I have a working camera, I am much more motivated to blog.

Tomatoes

Every Saturday morning for the past month, Michael and I have visited the Farmer's Market in U-Village. I love the atmosphere there, and we always come home with some good stuff. One of my favorite things that Michael does is he'll just grab a tomato from the counter and eat it like an apple. He loves them.


His new word: "Juicy!"

Swagbucks

I want to introduce you to Swagbucks. I have been using Swagbucks for a few weeks now, and have already redeemed my swagpoints for an Amazon gift card. Even more exciting, my brother called me yesterday to tell me he won Mario Kart from a Swagbucks sweepstakes. Woot woot!

All I've done is downloaded their tool bar, and used their search box (similar to Google's) and every few searches, I'll receive Swag points to redeem for various gift cards or products. There are other ways to earn points, by reading their blog, completing offers, doing online shopping through website, and others that I haven't really looked into yet. If you're reading this blog in the first place, you definitely have time to look into Swagbucks.

To sign up, make sure you click on my referral link, also on the side of my blog, so I too can get extra points!

Starting June out right!

I organized my storage cupboard today. I definitely feel stocked up on a lot of things. =)

Todays errands @ Rite Aid. I've never coupon shopped at Rite Aid before. It turned out pretty successful, although I am curious what the Olay products cost at Target. Both stores had equally enticing deals, but because I was at Rite Aid, they won my consumership.

Before coupons I would've paid: $42.12

After coupons & tax: $18.12

$24 in coupons for one order. WOW! I got the Stayfree, Kleenex, and OB products all FREE after coupons. Deals posted HERE

I will be submitting my receipt for SCRebates (only at Rite Aid) and will receive $9.99 back.

Net Price: $8.13 !!!

Albertson's

Before coupons I would've paid: $5.99

After coupons I paid: 49 cents

All Weber spices were free after doublers

On a final note-I received a rebate check in the mail today that I submitted around Christmas time. I thought it was a lost cause, because it had taken so long and they receipt wasn't itemized as they had requested. (It just said, "DVD" instead of the specific title of the DVD.) But, it's a sweet surprise to find a check in the mail. Anyone else catch any good deals lately?

Brought to you by the Letter "B"

When Michael was little, and by this I mean, about a year ago-I discovered something new about my boy. Something cute. Something about children and attachments. I noticed Michael's yellow blanket was dirty and took it out of his crib, and set it on the floor. A few hours later, I took Michael in for a nap and laid a different blanket over him. As soon as I left the room he began to cry. This isn't unusual, but at the time, it was unusual for Michael to be crying over a minute after I left the room-he generally laid right down. When I went back in, he was leaned over the crib edge with his arms outreached towards his yellow blanket on the floor, crying out "A B! A B!" Thus began naming tied quilts, "B". Suitable for the yellow one, since there are letters on it.

There was one night he had waken up and I brought him into bed with us. We have a large "B" (quilt with ties), but this evening we weren't sleeping with it because it was too hot. However, when Michael got into bed with us he wouldn't quit crying. We couldn't figure it out, until he said, "A B!" We pulled our big, warm, B onto the bed, then he was instantly quiet and fell asleep. We were uncomfortably hot, but satisfied with the peace.

When Michael gets his B, he'll stick one thumb in his mouth and his other tiny fingers will creep around the blanket until he finds a yarn tie and he'll just twirl it around in a soothing, comforting fashion until he falls fast asleep. As long as he has a B, he's happy and content at night. It is an absolutely adorable attachment.

Happy Birthday

Today is Uncle Michael's birthday. This is a special day to us, because Baby Michael was named after his uncle. We decided to write a birthday letter to him. (Although, it will be a few days late!) Michael's favorite part: Choosing stickers to put all over it. Happy birthday Uncle Michael!


The finished product. Michael got very territorial after we finished. He wouldn't allow me to touch the letter for the longest time.

Learning to Read

I am feeling almost in shock! But, mostly I am very impressed with Michael. Tonight, we sat down and read one of my favorite children's books, No Biting, by Karen Katz. When we finished, Michael took the book from me and read it right back to me. Granted, he didn't get every individual word, but most of his words were right on as he went from page to page. He also pointed out letters, "A" "B" "L" "O" "S". He is growing by leaps and bounds. I love my boy & I am loving this age!

I bought this book my junior year in high school after having a discussion about children's behavior in a child care class. I wish I could remember the psychology term for it, but I don't. No Biting teaches proper social behaviors for young children in a colorful way. The book offers a different direction when telling a child "no" to a behavior, by showing them a proper way to display that behavior. For example, you shouldn't bite your friends, but it's okay to bite an apple.

It was this concept that inspired me to help Michael with his love of throwing things. If Michael wants to throw things--let him throw, but by following simple rules such as only throwing balls. And with the plush penguin bowling set, and mini basketball hoop, he is able to throw it with a purpose, therefore allowing him to practice a behavior properly. It also saves me wasting my breath by saying "No" all the time. Instead I can say, "Yes, knock those penguins down!"

Self-Sufficient+Some

I am feeling somewhat emotional right now. Almost any emotion-pulling scene I see on TV or hear about from a person makes me want to break out in tears. Most of this, I believe, comes from just watching a new movie titled, “The Blindside” with Sandra Bullock. She is a wonderful actress, one of my favorites. Anyway, the movie was touching and was based on the story of a boy named Michael Oher who was a homeless youth but was taken in by this family who provided him with shelter and the means to continue in his schooling. He eventually joined the football team, and the family helped him get his grades up and now he’s a pro-athlete. Anyway, I’m not a worshipper of sports, as anyone who knows me already knows, but the story was touching, and I realize that I am now a mother, maybe not as “old” as the mother in the movie, I only have a toddler son, but I believe that everyday I can find opportunities to do good in someone else’s life beyond my own. The hard part is going out and dedicating that time. And, even as I sit here I realize that I don’t even need to go outside of my apartment to do that. I have a son, a precious little boy (see I’m about to cry already), who is living with me now and I’m the one who has the opportunity to raise him, and raise him well. And on top of it all, I have the gospel. I know eternal truths. I know God, and I have seen blessings upon blessings my entire life that I know are entirely because of our Heavenly Father. But, the fact of the matter, is it isn’t all for me. He blesses me. These blessings help me be self-sustained, and live comfortably with my little family. But, I believe God is helping me take care of myself, so that I can take care of others.

Wow. It’s like my fingers and mind were just itching to write. I have basically been swimming in a pool of these feelings for the past couple of hours. First, I watched “The Blindside”, and then I got on LDS.org and saw a “Mormon Message” video. One was a personal story of a member and her significant obstacle, but outlook in life as a mother being a divine calling. The other was Elder Holland’s profound testimony of the Book of Mormon that he gave last October conference. Can I say, “Wow!”? I still need to record my testimony of the Book of Mormon as well as answer a few other questions to fulfill that project in my Personal Progress since I recently finished reading it.

On a different note, I was following up on Dr. Phil’s website that got me started on this train of thought of being self-sufficient, and of being a good mother. I watched a show yesterday on Dr. Phil about mothers who really don’t have proper tools to be a good parent, or handler of their emotions. This abuse is wide-spread I’m sure, and I have had multiple times where I have decided that this is what I want to do when I go back to school. I want to take part in a daycare system that teaches children, like any daycare might, because I want children to have a fighting chance and opportunity in learning basics like reading and writing. And I want them to feel loved, appreciated, and safe. On the flip side, I want to take part in helping parents learn proper parenting techniques, similar to the class Richard and I were involved in. What a great opportunity that was for us. But, some parents don’t even know it is out there, or they think of it as therapy (negative association) or not as something that is beneficial. Anyway, I don’t know. I probably don’t even have to go back to school to volunteer with programs like this. But, having a degree under my belt would be a nice thing.

Well, Michael just woke up. We both still smell like chlorine from our swimming lesson early this afternoon. The water was cold. Michael belted out a loud scream when we first stepped in; kinda scared the one-year olds. But he warmed up and even hung onto the wall by himself. He’s a good boy.

Self-Sufficient

Take care of yourself so you can take care of others.

Thoughts?