A few more deals

I promise to get back to normal blogging soon but I just had to share a few more of the great deals I found this week!

Tim and I headed to the outlet malls this weekend to check out Carter's end of season clearance. They had their footed fleece pajamas on clearance for $3.99 with an additional 20% off making them just over $3. Then I had a coupon for an additional 20% off my total purchase. Needless to say Nolan has a bunch of PJ's waiting for next fall/winter!

We continued on down the shops and decided to stop in at Stride Rite even though Nol doesn't quite need new shows yet. Of course I found something anyways. I picked out a cute pair of sandals on clearance for $12. AT the register, however, they rang up as only $6. The cashier then told us that any of the clearance or yellow tag shoes were an additional half off. I ran back through the store and checked everything out again. In the end Nolan got 4 pairs of shoes for a total of $35! Besides the sandals they are all larger sizes and he'll grow in to them. I'd post a picture but they are stacked away in the closet and I'm not waking the poor sleeping Nolan to grab them, maybe tomorrow I'll update this!

I ended the weekend with a Monday morning Publix shopping trip. After getting to organize my coupons a bit more I found I wasn't too thorough last week so I had to do a second trip during the same sale period. All told I spent $29. Here are the goodies. I'm definitely starting to get a nice stash of great items (...and no we don't eat Chef Boyardee or frozen meals all the time you just have to buy when things are on sale!).

6 Voila meals
2 Wanchai Chinese meals
2 jars Bertolli Pasta sauce
4 Gerber graduates  meals
1 Marie Callendars Oven Bake meal (family size)
1 Michael Angelo's single serving meat lasagna
2 packs of mentos
5 cans of Chef Boyardee (whole wheat)
1 pkg. Armour turkey meatballs

Coupons Galore

I'm helping to co-organize my local mom's group now and a few weeks back saw an offer from a local blogger who gives coupon classes. I thought that would be a great event for the moms so it was set up for yesterday. Karen, of Saving the Family Money, did a great job and gave us some hints on how to maximize savings. Moms and babies alike had a blast.

I spent a bit of time last night after Nolan went to bed starting to get organized so I can make a nice go at this. My coupon organizing skills are the first thing I'm working on but in the mean time I wanted to have one fun store run to keep me motivated. So with a huge pile of coupons still on the kitchen table and not in a nice binder, I did my first trip.

I spent a total of $15.62!!!!!!! Here is a list of everything I got:
12 cans of Progresso Soup
2 Wanchai Frozen Meals (reg. $7.99 ea)
2 bottle of Wishbone Salad dressing
8 jars of Organic Earth's Best babyfood
2 frozen packs of Green Giant Vegetables
4 cans of Green Giant Vegetables
2 large cans of Organic Tomatoes (fire roasted and basil)
1 Sobe drink

Overall I think it was a great shopping trip and I loved seeing the price drop as all the coupons were scanned!! I shopped at our local Publix which was having a great Italian Days sale complete with store coupons for the Progresso items. Matching store coupons and manufacturer coupons on items that were on sale already led to such great deals!

Teething Help

Look at all my teeth!

Nolan popped his first tooth at 6 months and has been steadily teething ever since. His teeth are pretty slow moving and for him, the worst pain seems to be from the time they first slice through until they're fully out. We used cold wash cloths, wooden toys, and teething tablets for the first eight front teeth. Now, however, we are working on molars.

I have to imagine molars pushing through the gums feels a little like being cut over and over again. Right now his two top molars are through the gums partially. What this means is each tooth has popped out on the inside and outside of the gum. The center of tooth is still covered by a thick strip of flesh!! Poor baby has to somehow make this flesh disappear before the tooth will be all the way out.

The bottom molars are starting in but haven't broken through the skin yet. Teething for Nolan includes high temperatures (104 last time!!), sleepless nights, and overall crankiness. With molars he isn't really chewing on much besides his fingers and none of our remedies are helping. Ibuprofen was seriously the only thing getting him more than an hour of sleep at a time.

I've read about Amber teething necklaces before but was a bit skeptical. According to Inspired by Finn, "when baltic amber is worn on the skin, the skin's warmth releases trace amounts of healing oils from the amber. These oils contain succinic acid and are absorbed into the skin." Apparently the succinic acid acts as a natural analgesic. The teething necklaces aren't meant to be chewed upon. They are simply worn by the toddlers.

While perusing a friend's blog, I spotted a teething necklace on her adorable son. I was excited to get some real life feedback. Sort of like me, she was a bit skeptical but had used it through some of his teething episodes. Much to my surprise she had an extra necklace and kindly offered it to me. Nol has been wearing his necklace for 36hrs now. 

I'm not sure if it is a miracle cure or not but at least he looks adorable in it even when he is fresh out of the crib after naptime as seen below!! I'll be sure to update on any results we get. 

Blankies!!

Nolan has been a blanket fan since he was pretty tiny. In the beginning his blanket was easier than a toy to grasp so he could play with it when toys were not yet manageable. I tried to push two different blankets in the hopes he would pick one of those as his favorite and one of these two would eventually become his "blankie". They were both super cute and tiny too! Much easier to manage than a full size blanket when your baby wants to drag it everywhere.

The first was made by Nolan's Great-Aunt and has fun tags along the edges. It was his favorite for quite some time and you could always find him playing with the ribbon tags (and still can). I really thought this was the forerunner for the title blankie as Nolan would always be sure to grab it. It was one of the first things he grasped and even at a few weeks old he managed to keep it in his hands.

The second was given to Nolan by his Aunt and Uncle Cindy and Mike. It silky on one side and soft on the other and has a monkey head attached to it. Nolan loved the idea of toy and blanket combined into one and would gnaw on the monkey every chance he got.

I'm sure you're at the edge of your seat wondering which one he picked, right? I think we have finally determined who the winner is. Of course, it's neither listed above! It's just one blanket in his stash that I happened to cover him up with at night and it somehow made the rotation more than the others.

How do I know he has chosen? Last night after not feeling so well, Nol had to have an emergency bath. The process of removing him from his blankie was so upsetting that he was hysterical the 5 minutes it took to bathe him and clean of his blankie so it was at least bearable for him to sleep with. I've noticed for a while he tries to sneak his bed blanket and pacifier out of his crib when he gets up for the day. Only now that he was feeling bad it became apparent that he had to have that specific blankie! I also have found him pulling the blanket through the crib slots when I put it in the crib for the day.

Here it is.

I ordered two more today so when nastiness happens and I have to take it away at 9 pm he isn't hysterical. It's cute but of course not portable size!! Nolan still grabs his favorite tag along blankets and loves to play with those when mean mommy makes him keep his blankie in bed!

Bouncer!

We pulled out Nolan's baby bouncer this week to get it ready for our guest baby who has started joining us twice a week. Nolan thought it was fun and much more interesting than when he was little and the actual size for it! He is still not over the weight limit, not surprisingly, but I think he'd stand and carry it like a turtle if I strapped him in. Here is Nolan in his bouncer right after it was bought for him.

Here he is in it now.... one year, one month, and two days later!!

I miss my tiny baby but love the big boy he is becoming!

MOSH Fun

Nolan and I needed to get out of the house for some fun so we headed to the Museum of Science and History. It's pretty small but a fun place still.

Nolan played in the water table and splashed all around.

One of his favorite things was swinging the guard rails!

There was lots of exploring all on his own and he even managed to walk with me the whole time like a big boy! That is really a first as usually he runs in the opposite direction and has to be corralled.

Another favorite was in the dinosaur exhibit. They had a play area where kids could practice being archaeologists. Nolan was great with the paint brush and discovered some giant dino bones!

He got a little to into it though! (Yep those feet are off the ground and he is stuck) Overall it was a fun trip!

One of those....

Don't you just hate it when one of those days turns in to one of those weeks and if it happens in early January it's one of those years!! Argh. At least I have this goofy boy there to make me smile!

...and of course a wonderful hard working husband.