Buy Used and Save the Difference

"Buy used and save the difference" is a motto that my fav big family, the Duggars (20 and Counting), always says and I think it is a great motto to live by to have a financially peaceful life. Don't get me wrong I do purchase some things new, but I just love a good deal and most of the time I find what I'm looking for at a garage sale or Cragislist, even when looking for baby stuff now I can usually find it used and much cheaper. The reason I bring this up is because we are currently in the process of searching for a bigger vehicle now that our family is growing and we still only have one car and it time for two. We have chosen to buy used because we feel it saves a lot of money. It isn't easy though going the used route because buying a used vehicle is a much longer process than driving up to a car dealership and picking out your new car. I am loosing patience and keep telling myself it will be worth it at the end. I go on Craigslist and all the used cars sites pretty much everyday and check our local dealerships to see what they have. We are looking to buy a 2007 or 2008 Chevy Tahoe. We have test drove a couple at a dealership and have even test drove one that was posted on Craigslist, no luck though. We have bought much of what we own used and I have to say even though it may take a little longer to find what your looking for used, it is definitely worth it, and I know if we just keep positive the right Tahoe is out there for us. :)

Norah's 4 Month Well Baby Visit

Norah went and saw her pediatrician on Wednesday and it was a great visit! She now weighs 13.2 lbs and is 24 1/4 inches tall. I was worried she wasn't gaining weight like she used to, but her doctor said she is doing great! He said weight gain can slow down around 4 to 6 months, because they become more active. Norah is definitely an active girl, she is always moving and playing. He even said Norah is very advanced for her age, we were telling him all she does and he was very amazed by her progress. He was also happy to hear she was doing so great with her cereal and I had told him I felt she was ready to move on to veggies and eat twice a day and he agreed and said go for it. We just love Norah's doctor, he is very kind, great listener, never rushes us when we are there, is always making sure all our questions are answered and we are even allowed to use the room after the appt. to nurse and change Norah, it is such a great environment, especially for a doctor's office! His office staff is also great and we just love that we see the same Nurse every time and now have established relationships with both her and her doctor, it is so nice to have that. We also love her doctor because he is not pushy about vaccines and we never feel pressured to follow the vaccine chart timeline. We really appreciate how honest her doctor is about what vaccines are key now and what ones he feels can wait until later. We have decided to not follow the normal vaccination timeline. With Casey being in the health field we are very aware of illnesses that can be life threatening to infants so we have decided to do only the ones that are most important now at this age and we are doing the vaccines that aren't key until later when she is much older. We are also only doing one shot per visit. Our doctor is so supportive in what we have decided and we really appreciate and respect him for that. We wanted to wait until she was older, she is now almost 5 months, to get her first shot. She got her very first shot on Wednesday and it was so hard for me to see her get a shot, but she did great! Overall a great visit!

Norah turns 4 months old!

Norah just turned 4 months on the 27th and I can't believe 4 months has gone by that quickly. It feels like we just left Virginia and we were preparing for her arrival! I would have to say 4 months is my favorite age so far, she is doing so much, her schedule is really established and she is so much fun at this age. Here are some pics of her lately:

Norah loves going for walks in her stroller

A little about Norah: Norah is such a happy baby! She is always smiling and just got her belly giggle about a month ago, it is soooo cute and makes me smile!

She is super flexible and loves being out and about, which I love! If we are out and about she usually takes smaller naps in her carseat, but we usually try to be home for her afternoon nap, since that nap is usually her longest. But when we are home all day she has a good schedule and is a really good sleeper! Its nice that she can go back and forth. She usually sleeps 1 to 2 hrs in the morning and 2 to 3 hrs in the afternoon, with 2 small 45 minute naps around lunch and in the evening. She is still on a 3 hr schedule, but I love that now her naps are established with the 3 hr schedule and I can't wait for when she is on a 4 hr schedule and her 2 mid naps will drop. I have been following Babywise for the most part and love many of the concepts, its really worked for us. She sleeps from 8:30 at night until 6:45 or 7 in the morning. She is still sleeping 10 hrs at night straight through. She started sleeping 8 to 10 hrs at night around 5 or so weeks and has ever since, with the exception of when she started to roll over and teeth all in the same week :). She loves sleeping on her belly with her butt in the air. She wanted to sleep on her belly as soon as she could rollover, which was about a month ago. We tried swaddling her to keep her on her back, but within a day or so she knew how to roll over being swaddled and then it was unsafe so we got rid of the swaddle, she is our little Houdini :)

Norah also LOVES her baths! She can be super fussy and as soon as we put her in the bath, she stops crying. She has always loved her baths since the first time we gave her a bath when she was first born.

Norah also loves babbling and talking to us now, she has been doing it for a couple of weeks now and it cracks us up. She is just like her parents..loves to chat it up! In the morning, I know she is up because I can hear her talking to herself :)

Another new thing for Norah has been the discovery of her feet and how good they taste :) She loves grabbing her feet and sucking on them.

Norah has always loved trying to get her thumb and she has officially mastered it :)

Overall Norah is such an easy baby and I'm thankful she is doing so well!

Norah's 1st Camping Trip!

Last week, my family and I got to go camping at beautiful Pinecrest Lake. It was Norah's first camping trip and we had so much fun. My family has been going to PInecrest since I was a little girl so I couldn't wait to take Norah there and start the tradition with her, plus Casey and I have never had a chance to go camping together since we have been together so it was a first for us too! We went from Sunday to Tuesday and got to go with my parents and Casey's brother and his family. It was my nephew's 5th birthday so we got to celebrate his birthday while we were up there, which was a lot of fun!

I love camping and I love camping gear, so this year we bought a really nice tent at my favorite store, Costco, and everyone thought I was hilarious to buy a 10 person tent for 2 adults and a baby, but I knew we would grow into this tent with future kids and plus I loved that it has a screened section I could see Norah napping in and I could also stand up in it, which was so nice when changing Norah and getting dressed. Once we got there and set it up everyone wanted our tent, I laughed, I guess I wasn't that crazy after all :)

 Norah with my mom :)

It was so cold at night so we layered Norah up like crazy and I had purchased a fleece snow sack last winter on clearance at Old Navy before Norah was born for this winter. It was a little big on her but worked since she was layered underneath it. I planned on having her sleep in her pack-n-play, but it was so cold I was worried she wouldn't be warm enough and so we put her in between us to sleep. We have never allowed her to sleep in between us because I worried about us rolling over on her, plus she likes to sleep on her belly and I was worried she would try to roll over, but she was so bundled up that she fell asleep and slept all through the night, she did so good! She looked like a little Eskimo baby, it was so cute :)

Casey made our nephews hammocks for them and surprised them when we got there, they loved them and had fun with Uncle Casey hanging in their hammocks together.

Here is some other camping pics of our trip: