Winter Getaway

MLK weekend we were invited (so I'm told, Nate could have invited us) to go to Abe Martin Lodge with our old neighboors and another couple and their kids for a night. Nate and I love Abe Martin and have been several times. There is a very kid friendly indoor water area that David loves. We usually go spring/summer time so that we can hike as well, so going mid winter was a change. It was a lot of fun. David was scared at first, but eventually decided that floating with his life vest on was fun. And thanks to our old neighboors, he even had goggles to help keep the water out of his eyes. Even Molley had a blast splashing around in the water! I've got two water babies for sure.

He was so sad to go!

 





1/2 a year

Age: Molley is 6 months old
Weight: 17 lbs 11oz
Length:  27.5 inches
Sizes: She is in size 2 diapers. We are in 6 month clothes for the most part. 3-6 still fit. 6-9 are big, but she has so many more choices in that size, so we moved up.
Eyes: Dark blue
Hair: Dark brown...it's getting longer!
Sleeping: We're still working on that. She usually gives us a nice 6hr stretch, eats, and then sleeps for another 6hrs.
Eating: She takes 4ish oz every 3hrs. She also has solids at dinner time.
Milestones: Sitting! She can stay up for a few minutes before she falls over, giggles, and wants to do it again. She is also taking solids much better now. She is a blend baby. Not a fan of single flavord foods.
Memorable outings: Christmas! She was baby Jesus at church. She also went to her first indoor water park. Molley loved being in the water and watching everyone else. Splashing was a hit.
Favorite toys/activities:  The jumparoo! She is starting to enjoy her toys more and more though. She loves Sophie.
Words/sounds: She loves to sing! Boy that girl will be a talker when she starts. She loves to talk with you.
Nicknames: Sweet Pea, Molley-Molls (that's what they call her at school), MuMu is what TeTe calls her. I kinda like it!
Funny moments: Every interaction she has with David always ends up in giggles! He will tell me that Molley needs something, like cheese. He knows she can't eat cheese yet, but he says "Well, I'll just show her how so she will know." Using his baby sister for snacks! At least he sits and really does show her how to eat the snacks.
Looking forward to:Trying more foods, watching her figure things out on her own, sleeping more, watching her interact more and more with David.

iBotta

I'm not usually one to promote an app, but I am always looking for ways to save money (or make a little extra) and this app is the easiest way I've found so far! I did Swagbucks for a while. Still do when I remember, and I've earned a lot of Amazon cards that way, but it's not instant, and it can take time to earn enough bucks to get a $5 card.

Enter iBotta. iBotta is an app that you download to your phone and pays you money for brands that you probably already use.  Here's how it works.

1. Sign up here and then download the app
2. Complete the offers for the items you want/need to buy. Most are easy - answer a question, watch a video, read a recipe. (You can also post things to your Facebook wall for many of the items. I don't do those, because my wall is not a product billboard.)

Here is what the offer pages look like.



And what the"tasks" page looks like

1. Redeem your offers. To do so, you select the store you shopped at and submit your receipt. Then you scan the bar codes for the items you purchased.  It says the money will be in your iBotta account within 24hrs. Mine was there in less than an hour.
• In the store, you can click on the item you want to buy and scan the barcode to make sure it is included in the offer.  I did that for a few things that I thought would be included, but weren't, and one that I thought was not, but it was!
2. Once in your iBotta account, you can link that to your Paypal account and transfer the funds.

I was skeptical at first. I went to Target yesterday and it worked! I got paid $7.25 just for buying the things I was going to buy anyway.

The downside to iBotta is that you don't get new offers until you use the ones on there. There are several on there for products that I don't use, and probably won't. As you redeem offers, new ones appear.

The upside is that it doesn't matter what you paid for the items for you to get the money back. I had coupons and shopped sales to get some of my items yesterday.

Thus ends my first app/product review. Try it out!