Just a few reasons why I love my husband....

1. He gets into Christmas as much as I do.

2. Not only does he play dress up with Olivia, he lets me take a picture of him doing it! Olivia even refers to one particular crown as "Daddy's crown."

3. He tolerates all of the girly things, just like my Dad did!

4. He's such a good helper around the house.

He could win a hubby of the year award! I am so thankful to have him.


In other news, we had a trip to the ER this week. Grayson started running a fever late Monday night. Babies under 3 months aren't supposed to have a fever of higher than 100.4 and his was 101.5. I called the on-call nurse and she said to take him to the ER so I did. Well 2.5 hours later, the doctor said it was just an upper respiratory infection and sent us home.

I called my ivy-league-graduate-pediatric-nurse-practitioner sister and she said that I needed to take him into my pediatrician. Something did not sound right to her and she is a firm believer (me too now) that adult doctors aren't as good as diagnosing babies and kids. So I took him to the pediatrician's office (where I'm sure we caught another vicious virus in the waiting room) and it turns out he has an ear infection and that's what caused his fever. She gave him some antibiotics.

So needless to say, were not happy that we have to pay a $100 ER co-pay for a misdiagnosis. At least we found the real cause and got him some medicine so he wasn't in pain anymore.

So much to blog about...

At the Tree Farm

Twins!

So I've been meaning to blog for like 2 weeks now but I'm just now getting around to it.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend last week with Dad and Susie here. Olivia LOVES spending time with them. We went shopping, let her build a bear, got a Christmas Tree and decorated it, and best of all they got to see Grayson get dedicated on Sunday. Grayson looks so much like Dad!

Olivia had a blast decorating the tree. 75% of the ornaments are on the bottom 2 feet of the tree because that was all she could reach. It will be so fun to see her really get into Christmas this year.

The day before Thanksgiving I decided to try to potty train Olivia, again. She did great the first day, not so great the 2nd day but since then she has been doing so well and has had very few accidents. I'm proud to report that we haven't used diapers for her in a week and a half! It is wonderful to only have one in diapers! I was shocked at how easy it was once she finally decided she was ready.

As you can see from the pictures, we got the house all decorated for Christmas. Michael spent a long time on the lights and they turned out great. Christmas is my favorite time of year. I keep calling him Clark Griswald because he put up as many lights as he he could and even borrowed some that his Dad wasn't going to use. I just hope cousin Eddy doesn't pull up in the RV....

And......We've decided to sell our house! We have absolutely loved this house and could not have picked a better first house for us to live in but we have been feeling so crowded lately (mainly since Grayson was born) and would love to have an extra room for our guests to sleep (besides the couch) when they come to stay. We are still staying on the debt plan and have paid off everything except the student loans. Hopefully it will sell fast but we aren't going to pick out another house until ours sells. It is very exciting for us but the biggest challenge will be keeping the house in tip top shape with our busy schedules and a toddler running around.

Quote of the week: Michael was talking to Grayson and Olivia comes over to Michael and says "Daddy, he doesn't understand you." Like, duh Dad he's just a baby! She's developing quite the attitude already!

More pictures...

Just wanted to add these....

We'll be there between 8 and 10.....

Ever had new cable service? I don't think it is ever an easy process but I think what we have been through the last few weeks can top all cable installation horror stories. Here is the outline of events:

3 weeks ago: AT&T salesman knocks on our door, says he can beat our current cable provider's price, give us more channels, DVR, WIFI and free long distance on our phone. Sounds great to me, you know we LOVE to save money. They scheduled the install for Wendesday the 5th.

11/5/08- Installer comes, stays about 15 minutes. Says he can't install the cable because it hasn't been ran to our house yet. He'll let us know when they come back.

11/6/08-Guy comes to run the cable to our house. Schedule to come out on 11/8 between 12 and 2 to finish the install.

11/7/08- my day off. I'm on the way out the door at 8:15 to get my weekly errands done. AT&T calls and says they can come in 30 minutes and have it installed early. Sure, I can run my errands later. 11:30 rolls around, no one has showed. I call AT&T and they proceed to put me on hold for 45 minutes. I finally talk to "dispatch" and explain to her the whole situation. She says "ma'am, I don't have any record showing we called you this morning" Excuse me, but did you think I made that up so I could stay home and wait on AT&T all day? I am not making this up people! (those were my thoughts, not words). So, she tells me that someone will be there between 12 adn 2. The installer shows up around 1:30 and works until 6:00. At 6, he says "well, theres a problem with your line. I'll have to get someone out tomorrow to fix the line." So, he leaves with our house smelling like BO and still no cable. I can't forget to mention he left the gate open earlier in the day and both dogs got out. I had to go marching down the street in the 25 mph winds with both kids in tow to find them.

11/8/08- Another guy comes in the morning to fix the problem with the line. Other guy comes in the afternoon to finish the install. After working for a couple of hours, "well there's a problem with this box and I can't give you another one." At this point, I call AT&T and once again, I'm put on hold for 30 minutes. Finally, I ask the woman to please give me a good reason why I should not just keep my current cable and forget about AT&T alltogether. She gives us 2 months free, an extra $100 cash back and $30 off for 6 months. That makes me feel a little better. She also assures me that they would contact me first thing Monday morning to finish the install.

11/9/08 (Sunday morning)- Installer from Friday knocks on our door: "I'm sorry I think I left my tester in your attic, can I go check?" Luci bolts out the door and goes running down the street. Michael pull his car out of the garage, the guy looks in the attic "I'm sorry, I forgot there isn't a ladder to get into your attic. Michael goes and gets his ladder of of the shed (he has his shorts and a t-shirt, no shoes and it is freezing outside). He goes to look for Luci and by the time he gets back the installer says "well, it wasn't up here, I guess I left it at another house."

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday go by..don't hear from anyone.
Thursday rolls around, I call to find out. I'm transferred 3 times(have to explain the whole situation each time) then placed on hold for 25 minutes. Finally, I get to someone. "Ma'am, my records show your order is complete." Really?! Because I'm pretty sure we still have our old service. They finally got someone there on Thursday night to set up our cable and internet. We still don't have phone service throught them, that's supposed to come in two weeks. I'm not holding my breath. I'm also wondering where the whole concept of customer service is hiding itself.

Sorry for the unabridged version of the cable story, I'm sure that was boring for everyone. I think I just needed to vent my frustrations to all 5 of you who read this! By the way, I was never rude to anyone on the phone because I know that it is not their fault and they are just the middle man.

Grayson is officially two months old, AHHHHH! It is going by way too fast. He went to the doctor this week. He is in the 75th percentile on his weight and the 50th on his height. He's sleeping for 4-5 hours at a time now and is starting to laugh. Like Charlie said this morning, babies take a lot of work but when they look up at you and smile, it makes it all worth it!

Olivia learned to sing her ABC's. I didn't even realize she had learned them until she just started singing them all the way through yesterday. It's nice to hear a song we recognize for once rather than the made-up songs about whatever she is doing at the time. We're hoping to get a video of her singing soon so we can post it.

We always say we need to write down funny things she says and we never do so we will start blogging them instead. This week she said: "Go away rain, go eat lunch!"
She has started making excuses after we put her to bed. She'll come running out of her room and say "I'm sorry, I need to get my book" Then come running out a couple minutes later screaming "I'm sorry, I need to get my Rarr" (one of her 5 stuffed tigers).

We are sooooooo excited about Christmas! I LOVE Christmas. This weekend I decorated the inside of the house and Michael spent 10 hours decorating the outside.

We had some GREAT pictures taken last week at the park. More pictures to come soon...

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we have a lot be thankful for. In the grand scheme of things, we should be greatful we have TV, phone and internet rather than complain about how long it takes to get it!

Little Bo Peep Has Lost her Sheep

Halloween festivities took place this week. I think I had as much fun as they did! As you can see, Olivia was Little Bo Peep and Grayson was her sheep. Grayson's costume only lasted about an hour as he pooped all over it and we had to throw it away. Olivia like being Little Bo Peeop but did not like to wear her bonnet, as you can see from the picture of her screaming!

This year was the first year went trick or treating. The first time she knocked on a door she was scared and wasn't sure what to do. Once she learned that if she knocked on the door they put candy in her bag, there was no stopping her! She loved all of the treats she got and was a big hit every where we went. Overall, it was a fun and tiring night. I'm excited about many more to come!

Grayson is really smiling and develping a cute personality. He's still not sleeping well but we are hoping it will start soon.

Michael and I voted this week. Tuesday is a big day. I encourage everyone to go out and vote. Consider you morals. Vote for the issues and not for personalities. Say lots of prayers for our country. Go McCain!

Hope everyone is great,

Lindsay

The Bippus Total Money Makeover

We're changing it up this week and I (Michael) am posting this blog. This week Lindsay and I have gotten even more gazelle intense on our ongoing Total Money Makeover. If you don't know what that is, I'll give you a little detail. About 6 months ago we were in Alabama visiting Lindsay's dad when we caught Mr. Dave Ramsey on the television. Ever since we have been obsessed with his philosophy of being debt free. We got back from our visit and cut every expense that we thought was unnecessary, made a budget where we spent our entire month's income on paper with a purpose and stuck to it. It's been six months of doing this and we did AMAZING for about 4 months. We paid off medical bills, credit cards and even our car! After the car got paid off we really took a fall backwards for about two months. We still stuck to the budget, but added some unnecessary items each month and could not find that extra money to pay toward debt. This week we got fed up with the last two months of no progress and re-committed ourselves to the plan. We now listen to Dave on the radio as much as possible to motivate ourselves. We are having a garage sale (right now as I write this) and have made a lot of debt money! I'd like to give you an idea of how much debt we have paid off so far.

In six months we have paid off a total $21,341.26. That total includes medical bills for Olivia's ear tubes, credit cards, my car, furniture bought on two years same as cash plan, and medical bills for Grayson's birth. We are still working on finishing the furniture debt, Grayson's birth medical bills and we still have to get my student loans paid off. We have a little over $12,000 left to go but we are well on our way! We had some extreme help in paying off so much in such a little amount of time. We were fortunate enough to have the ability to sell stock, have the government stimulus check, and even use some of our savings! Our biggest help though has been the Lord our Saviour and we always give to Him first and always off the top because He has blessed us in so many ways. He has given us the strength and patience to continue and we owe it all to Him. This is only baby step 2 of the plan and next we get to fully fund our emergency fund, begin our retirement savings, begin college savings for the kids, attack our mortgage, and finally build our wealth and give give give!!!

We love sharing our story and encouraging people to get on the same path as us. This money makeover has completely changed our lives, changed how we perceive our finances and strengthened our marriage greatly! As you can see we're only on baby step 2 of Dave's plan and have a long way to go but we're enjoying the ride and loving "living like no one else" so later we can "live like no one else." It certainly hasn't been easy, and we definitely go through times where we want and want it now. But in the end we believe our struggles will be worth it!

www.daveramsey.com

He's on the radio in the Tulsa area from 1-4 p.m. on a.m. 970.


An update on the kids:
We got the news on Grayson's hip and everything is ok! He doesn't have to wear a brace and his hips should grow just fine! We are grateful and thankful. Olivia is doing great, she came down with a little bug this week, but nothing she hasn't had before. At school her nap mat did have to get moved next to the teacher because she has a slight problem with not being able to stay quiet or stay laying down. What can we do? She's two!! Everybody is doing great!

1 month Old...and Big Sis takes a fall

I can't believe my baby is now a month old! The month has flown by and Grayson has grown SO much already. He jumped from 10% at his newborn check-up to 50% at his one month! He does have an issue with his hip and will being going for an ultrasound soon to get it looked at a little closer. Breech babies have a tendency to have loose hips and one of his is really loose. If the ultrasound determines that it is so loose it pops out of place, he will need to wear a brace for a few months. Say a prayer its not too bad.

Miss Olivia took a big fall this weekend! My Dad and her were on their way out the door to fly a kite and she hit the TV hard. As you can see she has two black eyes and a nasty cut. Thankfully nothing is broken and she didn't need stiches. Michael taught her to tell people "you should see the other guy" when they ask about her oowie. She is absolutely loving having her Daddy-O in town!

The PRC banquet went GREAT! We had so many new faces attend and the speaker was awesome! I am so thankful that our first banquet was such a success and know that it will just get better year after year. God is continuing to show me that everything happens on His timing, not ours!

3 weeks old!

Enjoy these moments now because we'll never get them back!


Healing Rain

Our church did this "cardboard testimony" this past Sunday. AMAZING! They were actual testimonies from people at our church. No matter what is going on in your life right now, it is always awesome to be reminded of God's power. I've watched it several times and still can't get through it without crying! Just had to share...

Happy 3 week old birthday today! Grayson is getting meat on his bones! Since he was two and half weeks early (the doctor had my due date calculated wrong) he was quite skinny when we was born. He is eating 4-5 ounces every 3-4 hours so it's no surprise that he is gaining weight so quickly.

Olivia is still doing great and loves being a helper. Yesterday she was going to be such a good helper that she tried to pick Grayson up to help me put him in the car seat. Needless to say, I don't take my eyes of her even for a minute! We are going to try potty training again soon, we'll let you know how that goes..

I'm feeling much more adjusted to managing two kids right now. This morning I made it out the door 5 minutes early rather than 10 minutes late!

One thing I've learned recently is to stop and consider what matters to you in life. Does making money matter more than spending extra time with your family? I think its important that we all stop and think about what kind of legacy we want to leave here when we go. We sure can't take any of these "things" with us but we can leave our children with values instilled in them. I know that our house may not always be perfectly clean, but at least I know my kiddos are getting lots of time with their Mommy and Daddy. When they grow up, I want them to say "my parents were there for me" rather than " I grew up in an impeccably clean house" or "my Mom and Dad made lots of money."

I'm so thankful that I have a job at home and a job at work that I love. I feel like I have the perfect balance of working part time and being at home with the kiddos the rest of the time. PRC has our first big fundraising banquet next so everyone please say a prayer that it goes well!

I'm still figuring the whole blogging thing out but I think I've fixed it to where you can comment now..

Blessings,

Lindsay

Hello All

I've decided to start blogging to that friends and family can stay up to date on happenings at the Bippus household. I've heard blogging is like scrapbooking electronically and since I don't scrapbook, this sounds like the next best thing!

Our newest addition, Grayson Michael was born September 11, 2008. He was 7lbs and 18 inches long. He is such a good little baby! He hardly ever cries and is very mellow. He is already sleeping 4-5 hours at night.

Olivia is doing so well as a big sister. She loves her new baby brother very much! She always tried to give him a passy or bottle, even when he doesn't need one.

We are still adjusting to having two kids. I start getting all of us ready 3 hours before it is time to go and we still can't make it out the door in time! This morning I had already changed 5 diapers before 7:30! Hopefully Olivia will be potty trained soon and we'll only have one in diapers.

Olivia is so funny these days! She is quite intriqued by the breast pump. She refers to it as "the loud" and thinks that it is going to get her. We keep reassuring her that the "loud" won't hurt her and she runs around screaming "loud can't hurt you, loud can't hurt you!" Then she asks, "loud gonna get the floors? loud gonna get the couch? loud gonna get the dogs?"

Michael and I are doing pretty well, just a little sleep deprived! I'm still recovering from the C-section and having a hard time being dependent on everyone else. We are just so thankful for our two blessings.