The Art of Couponing . . .

takes more than cutting a coupon and "saving" money. Boy! It's a little more difficult than originally anticipated. I thought I had my list, my coupons and my determination and that was good, but what happens when the store is out of stock on your sale items??? OH NO! This was not good and threw a complete wrench into my planned trip to Safeway. I took my mom with me and that proved to be a great decision because at the check out line she put a buffer between me and the 10 other people behind us who were at the store for one item. And here I was explaining to the cashier that a double coupon was actually a coupon and not just "information." I in turn was . . . THE CRAZY COUPON LADY! Oh, no!!! The funny part is, that I didn't care one bit. I was determined to save some money, and you know what? I did! I saved 63% on my grocery bill. I only got 7 items, but it's a start. In fact, if you wanna see some great savings you should check out Super Coupon Girl's blog. INCREDIBLE!

I've been tagged!

Okay, so the tag is from April (SIL) and tt's called Fourth of Fourth. Take your 4th picture from your 4th picture folder, write about it and tag 4 more people. If I look on my computer in my picture folder the fourth folder is labeled BABY. And it results in this picture. It's a belly shot from my pregnancy with Natalie at 20 weeks. The sad thing is . . . I think my belly still looks about the same - EEK! Now, I just need to update my Ipod for the gym.

Now, I tag:
1. Timmons
2. Photos Fingerprints Crayons and Coffee
3. Discovering Him Daily
4. Tran Family

Birthday Buddies

Okay, so I celebrated my birthday with two other family members who also share my birthday date (October 25th for anyone out there who forgot). First my step dad. As I mentioned in the previous post, he turned 50. Unfortunately, everyone at breakfast forgot a camera including me (SIGH). So, no picture. But, at dinner there were several cameras! Katie, my husbands' cousins wife turned 31 and she was so thoughtful and came to MY birthday dinner on HER birthday! Ha, ha! It was a great dinner, blah, blah, blah. Here's the pics!



A pic of all the girls



Baker's brother and sister in law and us . . . clean up nice, huh?!



My sis helped organize the event - thank you!



Katie & Me (the birthday girls)

Happy Birthday To Me!

Saturday was my 30th birthday. It was a great day and so much fun! My babies slept until after 8am (some days Luke is up before 7), we went to breakfast with my step-dad who shares my birthday. He turned 50 and said, "fifty is stupid." Luckily, I'm only 30 . . . and thirty is AWESOME! Then, my sister picked me up and we went to the spa for an hour long massage. A little bit of heaven on earth. I then met my cousin at the mall for a backup outfit for my big birthday dinner and a Nordstrom coffee (YUM . . . also doubled as my lunch)! My dad and step-mom watched the babies while Baker and I met friends/family at the Melting Pot for a yummy dinner and wonderful evening. A fabulous way to turn thirty!

Savings

DISCLAIMER: This blog entry contains adult information. Please read at your own discretion!


With Luke, my high hopes of breastfeeding quickly were dashed to the ground. My milk took forever to come in and my supply wasn't adequate which equalled a very loud, crying and screaming baby that lost weight during the first two weeks. So, the this time around I knew some of my mistakes I made with breastfeeding and was determined not to do the same thing twice. To my delight Miss Nat was an excellent breastfeeder (is that a word?) in the hospital and once we were home. For the first week. At precisely 11pm at one week old, Miss Nat refused to eat. And she was hungry. Crying hungry. After 10 minutes and not wanting to wake up daddy and lil bro, I gave her a bottle. The next three feedings she arched and refused to nurse, so she was fingerfed via a tube and syringe, and by the fourth feeding another bottle. And so I pumped, and pumped, and pumped to help maintain my milk supply. Apparently, my miss smarty pants realized (after only 4 nights) that once a night in the middle of the night she was getting a bottle. I went to the store and got a silicone hat for my boob (okay, a nipple shield) and success! The next two feedings she nursed. But then she seemed hungry and I seemed, well, voluptuous. So I pumped and got several ounces and decided to see if Nat wasn't nursing and still hungry or just didn't nurse long enough. SHE WAS STARVING. Great. The next morning the lactation nurse called from the hospital and we made an appointment but it wasn't for another week. So I pumped for a week! Turns out my kiddos prefer silicone over organic nipples and an hour and a half with the lactation consultant didn't change Miss Nat's mind one bit. She was chewing instead of nursing. Yes, ouch. So, I learned that I can pump and still maintain an adequate supply for my baby. Did you know some women pump for a year? Amazing. To me at least. So, I'm trying it. And when I've absolutely had it and am ready to move on I will. But for now it works. And my baby is getting chubby. Plus, did you know breastfeeding women get an extra 500 calories a day? Bonus. I wonder if that works for breastpumping women as well. So, I've figured out that by not using formula so far, that in the first six weeks I've saved over $292. And I've learned a new word. Breastpumper.

Another Set of Bare Feet!

So, apparently Nana (MIL) had a little talk with Nattie J. And Nattie told her that she doesn't like wearing socks because she likes her feet to be bare just like her Nana's. I didn't know 5 week old babies knew how to communicate these things . . . I just thought those stupid infant socks wouldn't stay on!
As of now, four out of four pairs of feet in our household prefer to be bare!

(PHOTO by: EM)

My New Favorite Things

A good stoller can be hard to find. I finally found an umbrella stroller at a garage sale that my son liked . . . and that was stoller #3. So with two babies under 2 I went searching for a great stroller. I did my research and thought that the side by side chicco trevi twin was the solution. However, my car seat didn't fit and Natalie is too small to put next to her 30+ pound brother. So, I went searching for a different stroller and this is what I found.

I didn't think Luke would like this stroller at all considering he would have to sit in the back, but so far (it's been sitting in our front room where I assembled it) he loves to play in it. In fact he even took his blankies, Buzz (Lightyear), and Itsy Bitsy (his toy spider) into the back seat to keep him company while he played. So far, this stoller has manuvered perfectly around the island in our kitchen and I'm excited to try it out during vacation next week.

A new fav is my diaper bag. I wanted something that would keep my hands free, not slide off my shoulder and hold enough for 2 kids plus my wallet, phone, keys etc. So, one of my sister-in-laws friends had twins and had a ju ju be packabe backpack. I had never seen or heard of this brand or a bag with these features . . . but as I researched this bag, I liked it more and more. So this is my new diaper bag!

One of the things I like to carry in my bag are the shout wipes. I like these WAY more than the tide pens (they leave a smell and a ring around the stain) while these wipes don't have a smell or any remnant of a previous spill.

This leads me to my last favorite. There are days I've had enough of this thing, and days where I don't want to put it away because I know the benefits of breastmilk for my baby girl. I'm not the worlds foremost advocate on breastfeeding mostly because it's been a difficult road for me. But with a breastpump I've been able to continue feeding Natalie breastmilk since breastfeeding was well . . . a difficult option. I don't have this exact model (mine's a 2006 model from the year I had Luke) but they still function the same! The longer I give Natalie breastmilk the more excited I am to have a third child and maybe, just maybe I'll successfully be able to breastfeed! You never know . . . third time could be a charm.

Meanwhile, I'm still in search of a favorite bottle. I've had so many spills with the platex drop ins that it's driving me nuts! So if anyone has a favorite bottle, please leave me a comment and let me know!