Finally a Fab 5 Friday!

I have been absent on my Fab 5 Friday posts for 2 reasons  - lack of motivation, lack of fabulous things to post (I know that sounds uber melodramatic), and lack of time.  Ok, maybe 3 reasons.  Today I have lots of Fab things to say!

1. Babies babies and more babies!  My dear friends Wade and Allison Combs are bring Laney Sinclair Combs into the world today!!  I am so so so excited for them.  Their 2 year old son Hazen and Charlotte are super buds, I know he is going to be a great big brother! I have been praying for them all day during Allison's scheduled C-section and can't wait to meet Laney tomorrow morning.   AND more awesome baby news, my lifelong friend (and pastor) Josh Howerton and his wife Jana have been in the adoption process and received news that they have been chosen!  They will travel to KY on Monday to pick up Eliana Charis Howerton, a beautiful 1 month old baby girl!  I am beyond excited for them and the Howerton clan. Take a peek at Josh's FB status below - so cool!

The Combs Family (until today!)

2. I am now providing childcare for 4 kids part time instead of 6 kids part time - amazing what that changes for me!  Instead of having 5 kids (including Charlotte) 5 days a week, I'll have 3 kids 3 days a week, 5 kids 1 day a week, and then 1 day off!  This will last about 6 more weeks and then I'll just have 2 kids 3 days a week and 2 days a week of.  I know, it's a lot of numbers.  What it really means: my sanity level feels a little more back to normal, my house is a little more tidy, and I'm really looking forward to those mid-week days off.  It may not last forever for financial reasons, but I'm basking in it for now!

This is me and Charlotte doing puzzles, just the two of us :)

3.  Stockpile!  I know I have posted this before, quite a few times actually.  I tried a couple organizational things with it over the past few months and nothing really worked well.  This time I have it all downstairs in only 2 places, instead of spread out in 3+ places on 2 levels.  The biggest success here is that I have finally made my stockpile list! (Dry goods is done, fridge and freezer should be done soon)  I think it will be much easier to get my list and such done.  Woohoo!

Can goods on shelves, boxed items in tubs below (will be labeled)

Kitchen cabinet for cereal, chips, crackers (takes up too much space in a tub)

Sample of my stockpile check list

4.  I know you aren't supposed to list people, but Charlotte has just been super cute lately in developing her fashion sense, I have to count that as a Fab!

5. Low Carb.  We are back on the low carb diet!  While this is not my favorite diet, I am listing it as a Fab so that it can be motivation to keep on keeping on, and because it is a diet that I know works (I lost 70 pounds on it 2 years ago!) so it is fabulous :)  Sadly, I have gained backed that 70 pounds so it feels very much like I am starting over.  In some ways it was easy to lose that 70 pounds over 6 months, but thinking about it now, I can't imagine doing this for 6 months more, longer than that if I want to actually get down to my goal weight! But anyway, that is more info than this post requires for a Fab.

Amateur Photo Session!

Today was a beautiful sunny day, my 'work' day ended a little early, so Charlotte and I decided to head to the park!  Her biggest joy lately has been the slide  - "slide, fast, slide!"  She looked super cute today with her little pony tail and khaki capris so I decided to take our nice camera along.  That then turned into, let's take a different outfit and shoes and hair thing and voila!  Amateur Photo Session Commence!

We took "casual" ;0) photos with her capris and tshirt and pony tail while she was climbing all over the play gym and swinging. (and go figure, she never actually went down the slide today!)



Then we got more "serious" and went to the car to change into a cute little dress, sandals, and brushed the hair all curly like.  We took a walk in the grass and along the path and by Charlotte's request, across the bridge and the little creek.  She loved "run fast," and picking up leaves, and peeking through the rails of the bridge at the babbling brooke.


In the end I took like 182 photos... maybe a handful of those are even good!  I thought when I was out there clicking away with my little finger I was the greatest photographer and was taking perfect picture after perfect picture. :(  But hey, I got a few good ones and we had fun in the sun!!!  More photos are on Facebook or Mobile Me.

2 year well check up

...and concussion follow up!  What a day...

We had Charlotte's 2 year well child check up scheduled for today, so it turned into a follow up for her concussion as well.  Charlotte loved being in the lobby and seeing all the fish.  As soon as the nurse opened the door to walk us back... the tears started :(  I'm thinking once the nurse in the scrubs showed up and we started walking down these muted colored hallways, she was flashing back to our 3+ hours in the hospital and undergoing a tortuous time in the CT room.

She ended up crying the entire time the nurse was in the room with us, making it really hard to brag on Charlotte and all her milestones!  We cried through the taking of weight and height too, here are her new stats:  26 pounds in the 45th percentile (up from the 25%)  and 2 feet 9 inches in the 75 % (down from 85%)

Once the nurse left us alone, Charlotte calmed down and we played some games and read some books.  However, when the doctor came back in... tears again!  More here than ever, I saw how Charlotte was just like her momma - the more I cry, the more my face gets all red and white and splotchy, C's did the exact same thing!!   More crying through the talking, but we were able to go over all the important things.  Charlotte is doing wonderful with her vocabulary, motor skills, eating, growing and thriving!!   He did advise us to start her on some vitamins, so that's a new thing, but that's about it, just keep on keeping on.

As far as the concussion goes, he reiterated all the same things that the ER doc said - over the next 2 weeks we may still see signs of the concussion.  If any of them last longer than or happen often past a 10 minute period, we'll need to contact the doctor.  He assured me that it is very rare that anything else will happen, but you want to keep watch cause there is always a story about someone who thought they were fine and a week or two later something happens.

The next update on this topic won't be until her 3 YEAR appointment! Can you believe...

I'll leave you with a picture of my 2 year old from a couple days ago eating one of her first PBJ sandwiches!  Doesn't she look so very very grown up!

C is for Concussion

Well, we have had an eventful couple days!  A very special thank you to all those who have prayed and sent "get well soon" wishes to Charlotte.  The world of Twitter and Facebook is amazing at keeping friends, family, and our support system that spreads across the world updated at the push of a button.  As much info as I have been able to send out in 140 character bits, I know some people want to know what actually happened!  So here's Charlotte's story:

Yesterday, Tuesday March 1st, Charlotte and two of her little friends that I watch during the day were eating lunch at the table.  I was feeding the baby over on the couch with my back turned to the big kids.  Charlotte sits in a booster seat that is strapped to our wooden kitchen chair, she has tried before to scoot her chair back from the table by pushing off on the table top with her feet.  She has been told "no" multiple times and usually doesn't get very far.  This time was a different story!  She pushed hard enough that she tipped the entire chair backwards so it landed on it's back on the tile kitchen floor.  Thankfully Charlotte's head hit the wooden chair back and not the actual tile, but it was still a very hard fall.  (she was strapped in the booster seat so she did not actually fall out of the chair)

She was shocked at first, then started crying and didn't really want to be comforted.  Jeff was on his way home from a meeting at that point, but even with Daddy arriving she cried more on than off for the next hour.  Then the throw up began.  All her lunch came out in 3 successive throw up events - ugh!  She handles throw up like a champ but man oh man.  At this point we are worried about a possible concussion but I also had to send home 2 of the kids I watch for a stomach bug at the same time all this was happening so there was a possiblity the head bonk and the throw up was unrelated.  I went ahead and called her doctor and we talked over the signs to watch for: continuous throw up, irregular pupil size, and changes in balance, personality, or mental awareness.  They did say that she was allowed to sleep for up to 2 hours, since it was already past nap time at this point we went ahead and laid her down.

She slept for just over 2 hours and woke up throwing up again :(  At this point, she was crying, pretty docile, and while she could answer questions like she normally would - what color is this, who am I, what is this, etc - she seemed to be a little out of it.  We decided it would be best to head to the ER and get her checked out.  A huge thank you to Shelley Stedman who was over here in less than 5 minutes after my phone call to watch the 2 remaining kids for their last 45 minutes of care until they were picked up.

Once we got to the ER we did all the needed paperwork, registration, and triage care and were placed in the "Fast Track" with 2 people ahead of us.  All in all we waited about and hour and 15 or so to get back into the actual ER.  At this point Charlotte was still throwing up - in the car, in the waiting room, and then in our little hospital room.  We spoke with a physicians assistant and he seemed amazed by how many times she had thrown up, so that combined with her lethargy and docile behavior, he ordered a CT scan for our little bug.  This was to check for any brain bleeds, which could be either serious or something that would heal on its own.

This was the worst part of all this, in my opinion.  Once we were in the CT room, it took forever to actually get started, we had this one tech that was super loud and overly excitable which was making Charlotte more uncomfortable than making her feel ok with laying down on this bed thing.  They did bring Charlotte a little bear to take home so that helped calmed the waters for a minute.  The crying and kicking started when we had to lay her down, wrap her in a lead blanket, and hold her head still.  Ugh. Jeff and I were both holding her and singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Rock-A-Bye-Baby" over and over while the machine moved her back and forth.  Prayers were answered when the 10 most important seconds of the scan, she held perfectly still and seemed mesmerized by our singing - thank you Jesus!

The next bit draaaaaged on for 30-45 minutes (Jeff wouldn't let me keep track of the time cause he knew I'd drive myself crazy)  So we all just sat in the little room and watched House Hunters and waited on the doctor.   We finally got the good news that the CT Scan came back totally normal!   Her diagnosis was officially a concussion, so we went over what the next 24 hours would hold, what to watch for, and were even told that she could show effects of the concussion for the next 2 weeks!  Amazing.  Charlotte was giving some anti-nausea meds which she threw up at first (at this point we were 3 hours into our ER stay and would have loved to have these meds a little earlier!) But we tried again with another piece of "candy" aka the anti nausea meds and a purple popsicle!  She scarfed that thing down and actually held it down!  We were given the all clear at this point to head home, boy were we all beat! (here is the only photo I took of the entire ordeal)



Charlotte watched tv and cuddled for about 25 minutes when we got home at 8, then she was ready for bed.  She crawled right into bed and we didn't hear a peep from her til 7:45 this morning!  She woke up crying, but hadn't thrown up.  She was hungry and thirsty so we started her out with an anti-nausea pill and juice.  Too much!  The juice all came right back up :(  I won't give you every detail of our day today, but we did have a little more throw up, but then were able to move into 3 hours of non-throw up time, so she had some snacks and some more juice, held it all down, and went for a nap. Unfortunately she only napped for about 45 minutes and woke up crying :(  I think she was too hot and sweaty to nap, she hadn't thrown up, maybe her head was hurting?  She has some ibuprofen in her, some crackers and apple juice, and while she is tired, she is playing some and watching tv, so that's good!

We already had her 2 year check up scheduled for today, so we are keeping that appointment and doing a concussion follow up as well.  So thankful that our CoverKids FREE insurance for Charlotte went into effect yesterday, March 1st!  Again, we have amazing friends and family and are so grateful to have you all praying for a quick recovery for Charlotte and for Jeff and I as we take the best care of her as possible.  Be watching twitter and facebook for updates!

Emo Post headed your way...

Some friends of mine call their complaining/emotional tweets "emo tweets" so I figured this would be an appropriate name for this blog post!  If you follow me on twitter, you'll notice a theme to my tweets lately - ugh.  That pretty much sums it up.  Emotionally, physically, mentally, I just feel 'ugh' and I've been pretty vocal about it.

I can't decide if I should just let it out and call it "transpariency" or keep it out of the public eye so I'm not making people feel awkward, or keep my troubles to myself becaue there is someone else that always has it worse.  Then that makes me feel like I shouldn't feel like this - I am so blessed!  I have a great husband who provides for our family and is able to work at home so we spend so much wonderful time together.  I have the cutest kiddo who is so smart and well behaved and easy to take care of.  I have a big house with room for everything we need.  And my family - how can I not feel blessed to have my fantastic family??  I know quite a few people who would love to have what I have.  And yet this week has kicked my butt. I feel like I want to crawl into bed and never get back out.

I won't go into detail, but my 'day job' is really stressing me out as each of the 4 kids I watch, as well as my own, have had issues in the past week or two that has added to the difficulty of watching 5 kids 3 and under during the week.  Jeff has been blessed by being super busy (which is rare in his business during the first couple months of the year) but this selfishly means he isn't as able to come downstairs and help me out, he is working many nights into the wee hours of the morning, so he is tired and stressed out on his own.  I have about 4 major projects that need to happen but don't have the energy or time to get them done.  This means my house is too cluttered by these mid-completed projects and my wonderful Merry Maids cleaning from last weekend seems to be disappearing bit by bit.  And then some how, I seem to have hurt my back and it keeps getting worse every time I get up in the morning.  How can I do any of this when it hurts to sit, stand, and move??  Let's not even get into my exhaustion and how I feel like I am ready to sleep any minute now.

So, does that feel like enough to be an 'emo' blog about everything that I feel 'ugh' about right now?  So how can I fix it?  I tried laying around the other day and doing the bare minimum, but it just meant the next day had more mess and more to-do's that had to get down.  I can't sleep in.  I can't get away.  I want to say that some 'girl time' or 'couple time' or 'me time' would solve it all, but I have no clue.  I also want to throw my hands up and quit this 'day job' of mine but logically, I know I can't.   So here I am, complaining to my computer and anyone who is 'listening.'  Maybe I'll go get a chiropractic adjustment today at least...

Then I was jumping on Facebook and I saw this on a friends status:

‎"'Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.'"-Matthew 11:28-30

This is exactly what I need to hear right now.  This is exactly what I need to pray right now.  I know this isn't a quick fix, I don't really even see what it looks like in my life, but I find a bit of comfort in the thought of it and the fact that maybe I can acheive it.  Someday.  For now, just believing it in helps. ".... you will find rest for your souls..."

JordanLyons.com

Hey all!  I am still going to be blogging about my life and family here at House of Lyons, but I have another new website too!  www.jordanlyons.com is up and running to share details about my Scentsy and Thirty-One businesses.  Head on over there if you'd like to learn more about the business side of me :)

Thanks!

My Coupon Binder (described in a super long post...)

Within the last 6months-1 year, I have taken on a new hobby: couponing!   I had so many friends tell me about how much you can save with couponing but I never thought it would be worth the time or that I wasn't "that kind of person."   I think it all started when I had a couple shopping trips at Kroger and the savings advertised really weren't big savings or they didn't ring up correctly, etc.  I had those same friends tell me how they have encountered that many times at Kroger, and talked about great Publix was.  I had tried Publix in the past but it just seemed more expensive overall.  (I still think it can be priceier than a Kroger or Wal-Mart if you are not taking advantage of their sales)  So I started reading up on some blogs like I Heart Publix and Faithful Provisions, about the ins and outs of couponing.

After learning the lingo and studying up, I started clipping a few coupons here and there and printing them off online. Then I also started getting coupons from my grandmother from the Sunday paper and it really starting stacking up!  I used an accordion file and divided things up in 13 categories like Dairy, Produce, Home, etc.  Pretty soon my file was about to bust at the seems!  But beyond that, it took forever to go through my piles to find a coupon, especially if i missed one and I had to find it in the middle of the grocery aisles.  I also went to a Faithful Provisions couponing workshop and she really gave me more ideas on how to get more coupons and organize them better.

I decided that the Binder System really worked best for me.  Working at home I have the time to clip all the coupons I want and organize them nicely into the binder.  I watched a few youtube videos and such of women showing off their binders so I was able to see a lot of different ways, both good and bad, and make a list of things that I think would work best for me.  I jumped on amazon.com and bought three things (after much research!!)

• First, the Case It D-145 3 inch 3 ring zipper binder in bright green :)  Got it for 18 bucks, free shipping and no tax!  I like this binder because it zips, it has large capacity, it has a zipper pocket for pens, scissors, etc, and even has an expandable divider section.

• Avery Big Tab 2 pocket dividers, set of 8, for $5.  I definitely needed 8 sections, I like the plastic big tab version because I think they will hold up longer, and I loooved the 2 pockets (I'll explain more later)

• Ultra Pro 9 pocket baseball card sleeves.  I didn't need 100 but it was just $15 (they had a set of 30 for $5 at target plus tax) and this way I have plenty left for replacements or growth. I choose this brand because the reviews on amazon said they were very sturdy, even some couponors commented about how great they were for coupons.

It took me a couple hours in 2 different sessions, with a big bag of M&M's and a Diet Pepsi or two, but I got it done!  I had to trim down a ton of coupons, made a ton of piles, and got a couple paper cuts, but it was totally worth it!  It is my pride and joy :)

As mentioned above, I have 8 sections like Dairy/Frozen, Produce/Meat/Bread, and Home.  

Then in those sections, I have a page for each thing like yogurt, breads, crackers, mexican, chips, cheese, toilet paper, and on and on.

It seems pretty hyper organized but I works really well.  I had a few coupons to clip and put away the other day and it went super fast.  I also folded all the coupons in a way so that you can see the name, price, and expiration date either all on the front, or front and back.  I flipped through the binder yesterday and pulled out expired coupons and it was super super fast and easy!

Included in the binder, there is an expandable divider section. Right now, I'm using it for the current and past issues of store fliers and extra paper.  We'll see how this works, I haven't labeled them yet just in case I change it up.  Some of the binders also have lists of their menus, price lists, stockpile lists, etc as well, once I get those things done they may earn a section or two.I had my first shopping trip last night, and while it wasn't a huge trip, it was a great trial run.  This is the method I am going with: I pulled the coupons out that I was going to use and placed them in the front facing pocket in each of the corresponding section divider.  When I was in the store and needed to look at the coupon while picking out my products, I was able to find the needed coupon very easily.  If I was going to use the coupon at check out, I put it in a zipper pencil pouch in the front of the binder (I added this that day, it isn't in the above pictures) and if I decided not to use it, I placed the coupon in the back folder on the divider so I can re-file it later.

I was very excited to see how the binder fit in the cart too!  It gave me enough room too to have my list sitting on the left hand side, I had my wallet actually clipped on one of the rings for safety, and put a post it note on the pencil pouch to keep track of my spending (I write it all down and tally it throughout the trip, I find this is easier than accidental calculator errors)  I felt a little dorky but it was oh so handy to have!!   (FYI, Saved 71, spent 109)Hope this helps some of you!

here is a gallery of all my pictures:

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