Sunday, October 30, 2011

Yeah for awesome JCPenney coupon!

JC Penney sent me a $10 off $10 purchase (how stupid are they?) in the mail and today Camille and I went to spend it.  Since my little princess has been playing with her bubba's hand-me-down baby boy toys, I decided to see about getting her something girly.  So, fortunately, the toys were on sale 40% off.  I found the "Fisher Price Brilliant Basics Glamour Gift Set" on sale for $11.99 in the store and with my coupon, got it for $2!  It comes with a rattle, diamond ring teether, teethable charm bracelet and purse.  Yeah for JC Penney! :-)

Friday, October 28, 2011

found my old blog - also- blame me for Rangers' loss

So, today I found my old blog that I started almost exactly 5 years ago at angieinfortworth.blogspot.com and my blog title was strawberryprincess (a nickname Paul called me back in the day).  Apparently, I made one post saying that I got a blog so now I can comment on Paul's blog, which he had just started, too.  His last blog was 3 years ago, so yeah, apparently we once tried to blog and failed.  Hopefully, this time around, I stick with it and maybe Paul will write some more, too.  I linked my old account on to this blog, and I don't really know how it all ties together now, so if you see one of my old blog names on a blog or comment, you'll know it's me.

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Ok, so it could be our fault the Rangers lost the World Series and I will tell you why.  If you didn't already know, when our children were born, it coincided with one of "our" teams winning a championship.  The year Paul was born, the Saints won the Super Bowl and the year Camille was born (that being only 4 months ago), the Mavericks won the World Championships.
So, since we already had our baby this year and another of our teams won a championship, unfortunately, that might have made the Rangers lose.  I am so sorry, you can blame us, if it makes you feel better.  Now, I would have LOVED to see them win, don't get me wrong, but if you needed someone to blame, you can blame us.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Yeah for free diapers, also for getting more skilled at dining out with kids

So, today I went to CVS and got two jumbo packs of diapers for FREE...no I didn't steal them. CVS has a promotion where you buy 6 jumbo packs and get the 7th free, so one of them was my 7th pack. To pay for the other one, I used the remainder of a $10 CVS gift card I got previously for buying $30 worth of specified merchandise (in my case, diapers)and part of another $10 gift card I earned at the grocery for a similar promotion. Yeah for free money!
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Tonight we decided to do a rare thing and take both kids out to dinner. Even if we weren't trying to save money by eating out less, we still wouldn't do it a lot because, well, as you can imagine, a restaurant isn't the ideal setting for two small children to entertain themselves.
But, as we were making our way to the sandwich restaurant where we were gonna order to-go, we passed by a new restaurant that is right by our house and has outdoor seating so we thought what the heck. It's a hamburger place called Cheeseburger Eddie's and the way it works is you stand in line, order, then find a seat and they bring out your food. So, Paul stood in line with Camille while I entertained P4 at the table, mostly by letting him lick salt and pepper off his hands that he got out of the shakers on the table (you do what you gotta do).
After a few minutes of this, I got out some pens and we colored and practiced writing/naming letters - I wrote & he named ("dada" for D, "mama" for M, etc). We also took a walk to and from the car once Paul and Camille got to the table. Then, Paul entertained P4 with his droid phone - they watched videos of us and played angry birds. I took Camille out of her carseat and dangled some toys in front of her while she grabbed and swatted at them. Our food came and I scarfed mine down while still holding Camille. Paul fed P4 bites of his while scarfing his down. Then when the two of us were done, we boxed up the rest of P4's to feed him at home and packed up our stuff and left. I put Camille in the car, Paul put P4 in the car, I passed him around the back of the car and grabbed the to-go box from him to hold in the car as we went to our sides of the car. Once we got home, we gave P4 a few more bites of dinner and then it was off to the bath and then bed time.
The reason I write about this restaurant trip is because of how well orchestrated it was. Paul and I took turns entertaining the babies, all of us ate, no one cried, and I am pretty certain we didn't interrupt any other patrons' dining experiences. This all adds up to a successful dinner out with kids and I am pretty darn proud of us for being able to accomplish that.

Friday, October 21, 2011

A summary of baby and mommy's first 4 months

This description of baby's first 4 months applied to Paul as well, but with Camille being our new baby, she has reminded us how fun, and also trying, the early months can be.  But, each month gets you closer to the ultimate goal of a full night's sleep, and your old self, once again! 

Baby's description:

Month 1: eat, poop, cry, sleep sometimes when the mood strikes - not always at night and never for very long
Month 2: eat, poop, cry, smile, sleep occasionally, usually at night, not for very long
Month 3: eat, poop, cry, smile, coo, laugh, sleep every night, for at least half the night
Month 4: eat, poop, cry, smile, coo, laugh, grab toys or anything within reach, stand in the walker or exersaucer, sleep all night almost every night!

In summary, the more interactive and fun a baby becomes, the more she can wear herself out and give everyone better sleep!  :-)  

A mother's point of view of the first 4 months:

Month 1 "Do what it takes to survive" - who knows how we survived the first month - I can hardly remember it, which is ironic considering I spent more hours awake in this month than any other in my entire life.

Month 2 "Trying to feel like I have a normal life again" - now that I have a free minute every now and then, since baby now allows me to sit her in her bouncy seat for several minutes at a time, do I really have to spend it doing the dishes and laundry that piled up over the last month?

Month 3 "Ready to face the world again" - finally starting to lose the bags under the eyes and a good portion of baby weight

Month 4 "Hey, my clothes fit again!" - well mostly, minus the skinny jeans and tight tops (since there's still a bit of excess belly flab and as your upper arm muscles are bigger from carrying around baby for 4 months and your boobs are bigger from making baby's breakfast/lunch/dinner/5 other meals of the day)

Thursday, October 20, 2011

"Baby" proofing

The older our son Paul gets, the more clever he gets, and the more we realize what is left to be baby-proofed.  (Thankfully, we'll be all set up for Camille and when she gets older, she won't stand a chance getting where she's not supposed to.)  Two days ago, Paul demonstrated how he can unlock the dead bolt on the back door; we already knew he could unlock the knob, and turn and open it.  So, I immediately informed the hubby, and on his way home from work that day, he bought the baby-proof plastic knob covers that make it nearly impossible for anyone to open the door.  I don't know why these things are called "baby" proof.  Everyone that's tried opening the door since we put them on, has pretty much failed at the task.  And, I'm talking about full-grown adults here.  If we have to escape our house from a fire, I'm not sure we'd get out in time.  But, hey, at least I know Paul won't be able to open the door to just anyone, especially when I'm pretending I'm not home if a solicitor comes to the door.  But then again, I won't be able to open the door either.  "I'm sorry, I'd just love to buy a magazine subscription/support your candidate for office/be witnessed to, but I've baby-proofed myself inside the house."

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Let the blogging begin

So I decided to start a blog, or rather another blog, as I started one about 5 years ago and can't for the life of me remember what I called it or how to access it. But, back to the present day blog.
As you can tell by the titles, this blog will mainly be about my life as a stay at home mom to two kids under 2 years apart, who happen to also be under the age of two, at least for another two months. I will also often write about my current new-ish hobby of couponing and about all the projects I'd like to one day start, or finish, as the case may be. These include several empty and half-done scrapbooks as well as my collection of beads that long to be turned into jewelry.
I hope to entertain you with my ramblings and observations about my new career as a stay-at-home mom, but I'm not making any promises. ;-)