being a mother

It's always encouraging when someone you don't expect expresses how great they think it is that you've made the choice to be a stay-at-home-mom. Not that I am unsure of my decision. It's just really nice - affirming - to hear it from someone from whom you don't expect it. From the time I was a little girl, I knew that "when I grew up" I wanted to be a mommy. I never had aspirations or dreams of a great career. Instead my dreams were about puttering around my house, making cookies and doing fun things with my kids. And now that my life is just that, I am happy. Fulfilled. I don't want more. Of course I have days when I feel like going insane because the only people I've seen for three days are my husband and infant daughter, but that's easily remedied by a trip to Target or Starbucks. :) This is a good life I lead. As always, God has been good.

lost... bought... found.

Yesterday I lost my phone. One my morning walk with Baby Girl, it fell out of the stroller somewhere. I searched my whole route. Twice. And found nothing. It is amazing how attached one can become to a little piece of plastic. Honestly, I felt as if I was disconnected from the world. And I felt like a big clutz... having to replace a phone could not have come at a more inconvenient time. But God was good and we discovered that we were eligible for upgrade pricing... Now I have a sweet new phone, and it was quite a good deal! Wanna know the crazy thing? After I went to get the new one this morning, I checked in at the apartment complex office to see if anyone had found it and turned it in. It was there. And it still worked. *sigh* Oh well. It was about dead anyway, having been drowned twice and dropped about a bazillion times. Now I have a backup phone if anything drastic happens to the new one. I will admit... My new phone is pretty sweet... Touch screen. Full keyboard. The works.

SCORE!

Grandpa S. was in town today with a few hours to kill in between the young uncle's baseball games. Husby recruited Grandpa and the boys to watch Baby Girl while we ran a few errands together. (Yay for mini-dates!) We left the boys with brownies, sandwiches and a sleeping baby, while R & I went to Target. It's nice to go out without the baby every once in a while...

My $3 Snuggle Qs arrived in the mail yesterday so I stacked them with $1.50/1 Target Qs and scored us some FREE Snuggle! (x4!) Then I found a cute purse on clearance for $3.74 and used a $5/1 purse coupon. The overage allowed me to get one more bottle of Snuggle for like... 20cents. Total for 5 bottles of Snuggle and 1 purse? $1.48. Oh yeah!!!! This is my most awesome trip yet!

Friday Busy-ness

Today dawned cloudy. I was so sleepy that I never heard Husby's alarm go off, and that's super unusual for me! Baby Girl woke around 8am (God answered my prayer for extra sleep!) and I took that as my cue to rise from the dead. (This sinus-infection is really zapping my energy!) There was much to accomplish on this gray, humid day.

We were out the door around 9am. My goal - hit up Walgreens, CVS, and Target before Baby Girl decided she'd had enough of the car seat. I almost made it. She made her protests known as we checked out at Target. By the time we returned home, her wails were reaching a peak... Oh for the day when she will sit in the cart and be amused with a toy!

Since she's been down for a nap, I put groceries away, reorganized the fridge, ate lunch, made brownies (for the coupon swap tonight!) cleaned kitchen, and surfed the net. Now it's about time to leave for my twice-weekly babysitting gig. I will spend 4 hours with 4 kids under age 8, plus Baby Girl. Then I will drive home, drop her off for her daddy to put her to bed, and go to my first ever coupon swap. Yay!!! I'm super-excited to meet the ladies from the forums, and hopefully get some great Q's!

Today's deals:
CVS:
Spent 7.84, received $4 in Extra Care Bucks, saved $10
Got: 2 Colgate Pro-Clinical Toothpastes, 1 Huggies Wipes, & 1 gallon Borden milk

Target:
Spent $11.59, received $5 GC, Saved $17
Bought: 3 jumbo packs Huggies diapers

Target:
(I'll post the awesome deals, and not my whole grocery trip... it wasn't all on sale or a deal, but some things you just need...)
2 Classico alfredo sauces, 2 44oz red pasta sauces, 1lb. ground beef - $2.77+tax!
2 Off! clip on repellent - $3+tax
Chocolate Silk 1/2 gal. - .69!
2pk Up&Up mouthwash - 2.48(less than the price of one regularly!)
and other goodies....

Time is short, I must go!

Starting New

Every so often I make a resolution to myself to begin blogging regularly... A few posts are made and then I get distracted and forget, or fail to make the time. And yet, I really like blogging. So here I am, once again, making a resolution to start blogging. Again.

Life is a little different now, and yet still very much the same. Difference #1: The baby is here, and how incredibly precious she is. Three months old already! She's got the chubbiest cheeks and thighs with the cutest rolls... *sigh* I fall more in love with her every day. Difference #2: I'm no longer working and am officially a SAHM. Funny thing... I don't really miss it. Methinks I was meant to live life this way. Umm... I guess those are the biggest differences.

Mommyhood is awesome. Yes, there are trying days, but the joys - like seeing my daughter's face light up in a huge slobbery grin - erase all the irritations. Lack of sleep? Yes, but holding her warm little body in the middle of the night fills me with a new burst of energy. Fussy and clingy all day long, leaving me with little time to do anything else but hold her? I forget all that when she falls asleep on my chest while we rock in the rocking chair, sucking her little fist. She's overtaken my life, and I couldn't mind less.

I have a new hobby. It's not all that glamorous, but it's fun. For me, at least. Couponing! It's a game. A challenge. And I get a little crazy over it sometimes. But it's been SO cool to see our food and household item selections grow without spending any more money. Rather than living from one weekly shopping trip to the next, having to almost completely stock up each time, we now have extra ahead of time. Advance warning: from time to time, I am going to post about my savings adventures and deals I find. Hope it doesn't bore you, and if it does, well... you were warned!

Today I'm babysitting a 7 month old. He's been hanging out with me and Baby Girl all day. It's been a little interesting... Baby Girl, who can't yet entertain herself, and K. After I agreed to watch him I wondered if I'd been crazy, but gratefully it's gone rather well. (knock on wood) Their naps have alternated a little, overlapped some, and right now Baby Girl is still asleep while K sits on my kitchen floor, happily banging plastic measuring cups together. All in all, I give today's adventure a two thumbs up!

One more thing, and then I'll go for today. I must get this post-pregnancy body back into shape! The first 6 weeks were ok, and even good - I felt so small after delivery. But now... ugh... My goal: to fit back into my clothes, not only from pre-pregnancy, but from pre-marriage! (Why is it that the first year of marriage so often leads to extra pounds?) That's a good 20 pounds or more and it's going to be brutal... I love eating and hate exercising. Accomplishment: today while the babies were both napping I did 30 minutes of Pilates. Cheer me on!

What's new in YOUR world?

here comes Christmas!

Christmas is just around the corner and I can hardly believe it! A year ago I was newly engaged and packing to move across the country, and now here I am, married, with a baby soon to arrive! Ryan and I are grow closer with each passing day, and every day I thank God for bringing him into my life. ** :) **

The baby is growing right on schedule and I have had no troubles other than normal pregnancy inconveniences. She kicks me quite regularly, turning and rolling and poking me in the ribs. I am SO looking forward to the day she's in my arms!

We're trying to start our own holiday traditions... first being cinnamon rolls on Thanksgiving morning. Yum! I also made a pecan pie (for only the second time in my life!) and methinks that will become a tradition as well. Tonight we put up our first Christmas tree. It's so little and cute, sitting atop our entertainment center - no more than two feet tall, with sparkling black and white and silver balls. The perfect size for our bitsy apartment! I'm looking forward to the coming weeks, spending them with my love, and making more traditions as the holidays get closer.

A company Christmas dinner, a baby shower, a trip to Michigan to see my family... that's what these next few weeks hold! Three cheers for the holiday season!

little bits of progress

Baby registry - done. Stroller, car seat, bed, various blankets and trinkets. SO much fun!! The girls at work are planning a baby shower. How cool and sweet is that?! I'm slowly piecing together a maternity wardrobe... a pair of cute skinny(ish) jeans here, khaki shorts there, flowy tops here, baby bump sporting tshirts there. A friend is bringing me the maternity clothes she is now done with... Yay for passing things on! Let's see... what else? I thoroughly cleaned out my closet this week, making space for baby things. I have begun knitting a baby blanket. All fuzzy and soft and cuddly.... When I start thinking ahead to the coming months, I can't help but grin. And also..... (!) I'm pretty sure I've felt Caitlyn move! At 20 weeks, it's more than likely but it's weird at first... trying to distinguish between gas or stomach gurgles and teeny baby kicks. Weird, but amazing all the same. This is such an incredible adventure, that of growing a baby. More to come later! :)