Tim is 14!!!

We celebrated Tim's 14th birthday over the weekend. We didn't do a whole lot because last year was a "mile marker" birthday and we let him choose ANYTHING he wanted to do.

He chose to take a bunch of friends paint balling. It was VERY expensive, so we told him that the next time he would get a big birthday wouldn't be until his 16th and he understood. We held up to that this year.

He had one friend come over and hangout, play video games, watch TV, eat Pizza, cake and Ice Cream. Then the kid that were home, went outside and took turns riding the Go-karts that the they got for Christmas (Thanks Dad). They had a BLAST!!!

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Safeway and Rite Aid deals this week...

 

 

I went to Rite Aid Monday and then again last night. The picture is of the two trips together minus the 3, 12 packs of Mt. Dew for my hubby.

 T1 

 

(2) Lay's Stax $1
Receive $1 +UP Reward

(2) TGI Friday's snacks $1
Receive $1 +UP Reward

(2) Combos snacks $1
Receive $1 +UP Reward

(3) 12 pack Mt.Dew

Receive $3 +UP Reward

 

I had 16 +up rewards from last trip so this OOP was $ 0.00 and I got $9 +up Reward

T2

(2) Tampax Pearl 36-40 ct $7
- (2) $2/1 18 ct or larger
Receive $3 +UP Reward 

 total $10.00

(3)Nivea lip care $1

- $2/2  printable

 total $1.00

(1)Dawn dishwashing liquid 9.5-12.6 oz $1
- .50/1 any Dawn (P&G Everyday Savings coupon booklet)

Total $.50

 

I used my + up Rewards form last transaction. OOP $2.50. I received $ 3 + up Reward

T3

Tide detergent powder 70 oz $5.99
- $1/1 any Tide (P&G Everyday Savings coupon booklet)
- .35/1 any Tide (2/27 PG)
Receive $1 +UP Reward

total $4.64

I used my $3 up reward. total OOP $1.64. and I got a $ 1 + up Reward

So my total for Rite Aid was $4.14

 

 
 I only did one transaction at Safeway because I had the $10/ $50 coupon. This trip ended up being a total nightmare. I feel soo bad for the ladies behind me and the lady ringing me up. For some reason the computer did NOT like my Safeway coupons. Andrea(lady ringing me up) put in my phone number and the receipt showed that it was working, but for some reason it was not taking the coupons off. So Andrea had to go back and take every single item that I was purchasing and hand type in the discounted price. I had coupons for everything pictured except the celery (1.89 lb) and the apples (.99 lb). Since she had to hand type everything, my Catalina's didn't print!  Dang it!! then we got to looking back at things and I still got over charged for my fruits snacks, but she did give me the $ 2 back.

 

I ended up being at Safeway in line for almost an HOUR, but I did meet some super nice, fellow couponers! 

 

 

Fruit Snacks on sale $.99 when you buy 4

Used (2) $.50/2 from 2/13 Gm insert

 

Quaker Instant Oatmeal on sale $1.77 with in-ad coupon

Used (1) $1/1 from Feb All You Magazine

Quaker Oatmeal Squares on sale $1.49 when you buy 4
Used (2)$1/1 coupon from 1/30 RP insert

Cheerios on sale $1.49 when you buy 4
Used (4)$.75/1 coupon from 2/13 GM insert ( I think)

 

Birds Eye Steamfresh  vegetables on sale $2.50 buy 1, get 1 free

bought 12

Used (6) $1/2 coupons from Safeway frozen foods coupon book (they accepted all my coupons)

Used $5/$15 frozen foods coupon (in-ad)

Eating Right carrots on sale $1.49 with in-ad coupon

 I bought 2

Pantete on sale $3.49 with in-ad coupon

Used (4)$1/1 coupon from 2/27 P&G insert 

 

Head & Shoulders on sale $4.49 with in-ad coupon

Used (4)$1/1 coupon from 2/27 P&G insert

I used my $10/ $50 coupon, $5/$15 and the doublers. So my total OOP was $46.82

All the scribbles are from Andrea (the checker)

How did you do this week?

                               Thanks for reading!!

President's day weekend

We have many family traditions. One of them is....

Every President's Day weekend we rent a BIG ole house (this year there was 23 of us)on the Oregon coast and go crabbing, clamming, and shopping for the weekend.  This year was no different.

On a normal year we load up on Thursday afternoon and head on over and we come home on Monday. 

This year was a bit different. We got up Saturday morning and left really early so we could be there in time for my big guys to go out in the boat. Bob and Nick ended up going out. They had a good time!! 

Tim and my sister Christine, after being out in the boat all day!  *stinky*

Bridgette and Bryson had never seen crab before.... They weren't sure what to think of it...lol

Tim and Nick have lots of experience. We've been taking them their whole lives. ( I will add pics of them when they were little later, I need to find them)

Bryson wouldn't actually touch it at first. Bridgette wasn't sure about it...

But then she decided she kinda liked the look of it...

You know babies, everything has to go in the mouth...

I think she liked it...

She REALLY liked it!! lol

Then she had to get serious!  She cracks me up!!

Don't bother me, I'm eating CRAB!!

Do you do you have family traditions? Do anything special for President's day?




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Feeding Tube for Bryson (G-tube)

At 2 months you can see the difference between the two babies. They were only about a pound different at the time.

 Bryson is a little guy. He always has been. I'm pretty sure it's because of his Cystic Fibrosis. We have fought and fought and fought to get some meat on the kids bones every since he came home. Well actually before that even. They worked really hard while he was in the hospital as a new born too. The doctors have been telling us off and on to consider a feeding tube for him. We, as his family didn't want it to end up there so we did EVERYTHING in our power to get him to eat. He was on a special formula called Pregestimil. Its a high fat, pre-digested formula. It helped for a little while, but not long enough so his dietitian had us up the amount of powder to water to make it higher in calories. He grew slowly, but he grew. (through all of this, we were needing to take him to the Dr every week to be weighed!)

Here he is at 2.5 months. Such a little thing.

 When he got old enough to have solids we had to put butter in his meats and veggies and heavy whipping cream in his fruits and cereal. When his weight gain would slow down we would add more butter and cream to his foods. He got sick of this so we were told to add even more powder to water for his formula. It was 5 oz of water and 4 scoops of powder. That makes the bottle 30 calories for oz, which is the highest they could go with formula.

Almost 4 months old he was a little over a pound different.

 So we decided to start giving him Pedisure and he really liked the chocolate and it was a nice change. We would also give him cheese, cookies, french fries, cake, cheese puffs, hamburgers with mayo and cheese, anything and everything we could think of that was HIGH calorie, he got it.

Marshmallow..mmmmm

 It still wasn't enough.

He is such a happy little guy!

So we went back to Doernbecher a few weeks ago and they put him on a Kids Boost Essentials. This stuff is 45 calories per oz, they told us to stop his formula and only give him the boost to drink and offer him anything and everything that is fattening to us. 

COOOKIES!!

Bryson ended up getting sick, we're not sure if the boost made him sick or if it was just the flu or what, but he ended up VERY sick last week and was throwing up EVERYTHING so we had to stop the boost. We had a clinic visit yesterday and he lost almost a pound! We don't have a choice anymore. Bryson has to get a feeding tube. Unfortunately, that means another surgery for my little man. We have our initial consultation with the surgeons next week.

 I have very mixed emotions about this. I know in my heart that he does need this and I know he will get bigger and hopefully reach the 50% like Bridgette. But I can't help but feel like a failure too. I hear about and read about so many other CF babies that don't need this, or at least not yet. Am I missing something? Is there more I should be doing to help him gain? It's just such a weird thing. I fight with my weight, but at the other end and people say, " Wow, I wish I had that problem"  If only you knew! I personally know what it's like on both ends of the spectrum now. I wouldn't wish this problem on anyone. People don't realize how unhealthy it is to be so little. Of course we all know that being obese is a health risk, but being malnourished is too. Right now, Bryson isn't even on the growth chart and is considered "failure to thrive".

The reason this is such an issue is because Cystic Fibrosis is not only a digestive disease but a lung disease too.  When the kids don't grow, then their lungs can't grow and when the lungs don't grow properly in the early years it sets them up for more issues later. And that is where the real problems start. I guess the bottom line is, I would rather my son have a feeding tube now, if it can (hopefully) prevent him from needing a lung transplant later! 

Breathing treatment

 As a side note... When Bryson turned a year old that is when he was given the OK to have the boost. My Insurance plan kept telling me that they wouldn't cover it unless he had a feeding tube. This stuff is expensive!!! Bryson's dietary requirements were four 8 oz boxes a day = 120 a month = $357.88 a month.  Of course I can't put a price tag in Bryson's health, but I knew that there had to be a way for the Insurance company to see it my way. I fought with them for days about it, well one phone call I happened to get a really nice, understanding rep that told me that there was a loop hole kind of thing.  If we could get our Dr. to send in documentation showing that he had "Severe intestinal malabsorption issues, he was being followed by a registered dietitian and his main nutritional intake is from the boost. They would consider covering it. So I called the office and let them know and they were happy to do this for us. A few days later I got a call from the office saying that insurance was going to cover it. I also found out that regular pharmacy can't do fill this RX tho, it has to come from the specialty mail order pharmacy. But we did get it figured out. *happy dance*

I also had to fight with the insurance company for days to get them to cover his TOBI.  So to all the CF parents that are having issues with insurance companies not covering things, FIGHT it. Of course they don't want to pay, but if you push it, chances are, they will cover it in the end. Be a strong advocate for you kiddo, If you don't, who will?



                    Thanks for reading!!

Sentimental Sunday

I LOVE my kiddos!!!