Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Well, the Sargent household had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The food was absolutely delish and nothing beats being surrounded by family. We had all of the Thanksgiving staples; turkey, stuffing, gravy, green beans, green bean casserole (yuck), jellied cranberry sauce, homemade cranberry sauce, biscuits, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, deviled eggs, and salad. The coolest part was that Oliver had a little bit of everything and loved it all! He was pretty much passed out for the entirety of Thanksgiving last year, so although he was screaming for food most of this one, at least he was alert!
We ate rather late (630) because Shane had to work until 6. We were all settling into our Turkey-coma's at about 730 so we had our desserts last night. Apple pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate cream pie, and ice cream. YUM!

Yesterday, in case you hadn't heard, was also Black Friday. I went whole hog this year and went with my MIL and SIL to Wal-Mart at 430am to stand in line for a half an hour. There was nothing that I was worried about getting, it was just for the excitement of it all! And exciting it was! At 430 there were probably 100 people in front of me in line and by 5, when the doors opened, there were at least as many behind me, too. The store was okay except for around electronics, you really could not move. I had to abandon my cart because I would have been stuck next to the laptops (no, Shane, that is not what you got) until next Tuesday! The line to check out was pretty ridiculous. I hopped in a line, and then saw that there were two lines, but, wanting to keep my place, I stayed in my slow line. It wasn't until my line got to the register that I noticed that my line went to ONE register, the other line went to ELEVEN!!!!!! So dumb. So by 7 we were out of Wal-Mart and moved onto Target, which was good for DVD's and not much else. Then we went down to Salem and hit Kohls, who had a super long line, but they're so efficient that it went super quick, Christmas Tree Shop, and Barnes and Noble. By now it was about 230 so we had lunch. My SIL had packed turkey sandwiches and chocolate cheesecake...just the pick-me-up I needed! We went back to Penacook to pick up my car and I left my MIL and SIL there and proceeded on to the Outlets where I hit Old Navy ($10 sweaters!), Banana Republic (50% off the entire store!), and Carter's (50% off the entire store!) I finished shopping at 6pm, 13 hours after I had started. It was so much fun and I already can't wait to do it next year!

The spread

Where's m'turkey!?

The line outside

The line inside

The damage

The damage!

First Foreign Object

Last night when I was changing Oliver's diaper I noticed something a little odd, so I took a closer look...was that...a decimal point button...of a calculator!? That is correct, Oliver swallowed his first non-food object (well...that I know about and have evidence of). Needless to say the calculator has been thrown out and I think Oliver's bowels have been cleaned out!

The New Hannaford

This weekend there were big goings-on in the little town of Meredith. We got our very own chaing grocery store! For years we have had Jackson Star which is ridiculously ridiculously expensive, and because it is on 104 its a little out of the way too. So every week the town of Meredith collectively drove to either Gilford (for Shaw's or Hannaford) or Tilton (for Market Basket) to get our grocery shopping done. Not pleasant when gas was at $4/gallon.
So the grand opening was at 7 am and the first 500 customers recieved a "gift". Now we were pretty excited to get there to claim our prize, but I had no idea about some other people! One of mom's friends said she couldn't sleep the night before! Another arrived at the store at 615! Ahh, small town New Hampshire:) Shane and I got there at about 8 and we lucked out with a parking space but had to wait five minutes for a shopping cart! There were still plenty of freebies left, so we were happy. The line to check out was wrapped around half of the store but it seemed to go fast. It is going to be exciting to be making a dinner, realize I don't have an ingredient, and know I won't have to pay our life savings for, say, a bunch of broccoli!our freebie included pasta, sauce, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, server, and a big bottle of EVOO-I'd guess it was a value of at least $20!)

cry baby...the finale?

So after that lovely night of waking up 5 times (in which the 4th time Shane said "Oh, is this his first time waking up!?") Shane and I both agreed that even though Oliver sleeps in a crib right next to us that we would just let him cry it out over the weekend whenever he got up. So two nights ago Oliver fell asleep great and then got up at 1230 and cried like crazy for 5 minutes while I was laying in bed trying not to move, hoping he couldn't see me. Eventually, though, he went to sleep and didn't get up until 530. Last night when I put him to bed he whimpered twice and fell asleep and didn't get up again until 5!!! It was lovely! Of course, I'm sure he will get a cold, or a tooth, or something that will make him stay up all night now, but for the time being WE DID IT!!!

boooooo

5 times again:(

cry baby update

Last night I nursed Oliver to sleep and he got up 4 times.

Tonight I nursed him, but he didn't go to sleep (which is actually what I was hoping for) I put him in his crib, kissed him, said "I love you" and walked out. The tantrum ensued...but it was 25 minutes shorter! That's right! He fell asleep in 5 minutes!! Very exciting! We'll see how many times he gets up tonight, because that is the real indicator of success.
My boy is growing up! He can put himself to sleep! (Everyone knock on wood that I didn't just jinx myself)

cry baby

Well last night for the first time in my little boy's life I made him cry himself to sleep. I had nursed him to sleep at 745. Fine. Great. But at 830 he woke up crying. I knew he couldn't be hungry, and that if I went in there he would want to be held and nursed, so I stayed strong and folded laundry downstairs. He cried for 30 minutes before finally falling asleep in a very awkward position (don't they always?) When I didn't hear him anymore I went to check on him, and that of course woke him up, but he didn't see me so he just went right back to sleep. For the past few weeks he has been getting up 5 times a night and last night he only got up twice! (330 and 6) I don't know if this will be an every night occurrence because I still like to nurse him in the evening, but it is good to know that he can actually survive crying himself to sleep!

PARTY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEETEST BOY, OLIVER!!! I'M SO HAPPY YOU CAME TO EARTH TO BE WITH ME!

Kitty Cupcakes!

On Wednesday I took cupcakes to my Breast Feeding Group to celebrate Oliver's birthday (which is on Sunday). Since his first word was "kitty" and he's a little obsessed I made kitty cupcakes! I saved one so that he can have a cake all to his own at his birthday party on Saturday! I also took the second tray to the nurses at the hospital because I had a really great experience with them a year ago!:) (don't worry becky, if it had been Franklin, i would NOT have taken them cupcakes!)

man. why's everyone raining on my parade?

GOBAMA!

Do you smell what Barack is cooking???


SMELLS LIKE A PRESIDENCY!!!!!

I can honestly say that I have never been prouder to be an American.

yucky baby food

Now let me begin by saying that I love Beech Nut brand. I like it a lot better than Gerber. The have bigger chunks in their food and seem to use less crazy sounding ingredients. Yesterday we gave Oliver the above food; Sweet Potatoes and Wild Alaskan Salmon. He ate it just like eats everything else (He is obviously a good eater). This was all fine and good until it came out the other end. Thats right. We are talking about the stinkiest, most gut wrenching aftermath I have ever encountered. All the moms out there know how hard it is to actually gag at your own child's "waste" but my goodness that tested my gag reflex to the max! I know this was a gross post, but I just needed to share my disgusting experience and hopefully help others avoid this unfortunate mistake!

Halloween

The attempts at group photos did not go so well...all the kiddies wanted to play with the leaves!

The lion in his natural habitat!

Franken-Shane

For the Halloween party yesterday I made a dessert called FrankenTreats; rice krispy treats with m&m's for eyes, dots for neck bolts and gummy worms for mouths. They all kind of looked the same and I made a comment about them looking incomplete without the icing for hair. Shane looked at me sadly and said "Do you think I look incomplete?" So I had to make a FrankenShane to show how "sweet" he really is!