A visitor!

Laura, one of my best friends from college, is coming down for a visit tomorrow morning. I'm so excited!! I've been feeling sort of penned in lately since it's so hard to actually get out of the house. It will be wonderful to have a visitor come since we can't go to her!

Walgreens again!

This has been a great few weeks at Walgreens.

Today:

3 boxes of cereal
6 bottles of regular shampoo/conditioner
3 bottles of fancy shampoo/conditioner
1 bottle of Aveeno baby bath
4 dark chocolate candy bars
12 double rolls of toilet paper

Total before coupons: $69.46
Total after coupons: $33.60
Register rewards earned: $14
Rebate earned $32

And that's even with my store being picky on the order of coupons....I could have made an extra $10 otherwise.

Walgreens

Today at Walgreens:

5 John Frieda Shampoos
3 John Frieda Conditioners
24 pairs of socks for Ian
3 jars of peanut butter
8 Glade scented oil warmers with refills
1 jiggly light-up toy for Ian

Total before coupons & sales: $134.93
Total before coupons: $112.35
Total after coupons: $47.11
Register rewards spent: $14
Total out of pocket: $33.11

Register Rewards earned: $36
Rebate: $4

Net Total: $7.11

Nice weekend

We really had a nice weekend.

Ian magically transformed from a little terror to a sweet little boy on Saturday when Daddy was around all day. We got quite a few things done around the house and had a good time playing outside.

Saturday night Rinnah set a new sleeping record-9.5 hours before she wanted to eat!! She woke up once at 5 (she'd been down since 10) and I thought surely she wanted to eat. But she was just upset that she had wiggled her face into the corner of the cradle. As soon as I pulled her back, she quieted down and went right back to sleep for a few more hours. She's such a good sleeper. I can usually count on about 6 hours straight each night now. If only the same could be said of Ian...

Walgreens run

2 boxes of Fruity Cheerios
6 jars of spaghetti sauce
2 boxes of wipes
2 boxes of jr. maalox
1 bottle of fiber capsules
1 bottle of foundation
1 jiggly light-up toy for Ian
1 pack of wiffle balls

Total after tax & coupons: $4.66
Received $4 in register rewards for future purchases
Will receive $4.99 rebate

:)

Anybody want a little boy?

Ian got up an hour early today, which was obviously not a good thing. The day started out with him telling me about the crickets he could hear outside his window. Nice enough, until I tried to get him dressed or accomplish anything else. He screamed if I got him out of the crib, he screamed if I closed the window, he screamed if I left the room-basically if I did anything but listen to him babble about a cricket. Then there was the tantrum when he wanted licorice for breakfast (as a responsible mother, I of course said no). When I changed Rinnah's diaper, I returned to find that he had dumped an entire package of croutons on the kitchen floor and then stomped them into a million pieces. And he wailed all through lunch, not even eating because 1)the garbage truck had left. watching it is the highlight of his Wednesday. the driver even honks and waves now. and 2) we wouldn't let him have carrot cake for lunch.

Those are just the highlights and it's not even 1pm yet. Sigh.

For a good part of yesterday, the soundtrack to my life was the sound of a 23 month old screaming his way through a temper tantrum.

We're at that age, I guess. And getting a new little sister kind of exacerbated it. He's sweet to her, but everything else in his life is a little more dramatic now.

All morning I was trying to leave the house. We actually left at 10:40, and wouldn't have left then if it wasn't for the fact that mom needed my help with something. When she called back to say she was ready to go, Ian was laying on the floor screaming because I wouldn't give him a cookie, Rinnah was screaming because her tummy was upset, and I had spitup all over my shirt.

We're debating going to Chicago in October to do the science museum and Wheaton's Homecoming. Oh, it would be a long trip and we get tired thinking about it. But on days like today, I figure, if they're going to be crying anyway, why not be on the way to something fun and different? We'll have to see if we're brave enough to go for a few days without naptime though.

Girls' day out

I had my 6 week checkup in Springfield yesterday. Rinnah is obviously still to little to leave behind (I don't think I could anyway!) but the thought of taking both kids all the way to Springfield by myself was a bit scary. So I dropped Ian off with Grandma, then Jeremy picked him up for lunch & put him down for a nap. I think he had a lot more fun that way than he would have in the car anyway.

Since we weren't constrained by Ian's nap schedule then, after the appt. Rinnah and I went shopping! Well, Rinnah napped in the sling while I shopped. I went to Target and made two Walgreens stops. It was fun to walk around Target-it's been months since I was able to shop there. I found a carseat for Rinnah marked to half-price because it was missing the cupholder. Very exciting! Not the best carseat in the world, but for $35 it will make a great secondary seat. And I found swim trunks for Ian next year, and a croquet/bocce ball set, and some frozen fries for $.04 after coupons. It was a nice time.

Rinnah did really well too. I only had to pull over once.

Can you please do that every day?

Today was such an easy day. Rinnah napped, in her cradle no less, for 45 minutes this morning and 4 hours this afternoon. 4 hours! I actually woke her up when we were eating dinner so she could eat and have some awake time this evening. Crazy! But I got SO much done when it was like I only had one child again. It's funny-she seems so easy by herself, and Ian's not too bad when it's just him. But with them together, it's such a challenge to get any chores done because I have to stop Ian from hurting her in the process of loving on her. He's a sweetheart, but he's not even 2. And if he's not poking her, then he's creating some other mess for me. Sometimes I think I come out ahead by just keeping him from making any new disasters, even if I don't make improvements in any of the existing ones.

Wal-mart deal!!

The tally for today:

10 All You Magazines: $17.70
150 packets of Kool-aid: $30.04
10 bottles of salad dressing: FREE
10 boxes of Wheat Thins: FREE
10 packs of Kraft Singles cheese: FREE
10 packs of Oscar Meyer hot dogs: FREE
10 packages of Crystal Light drink mix: FREE

The cashier was quite amused. "Are you one of those people who gets lots of stuff for free with coupons? I've seen them on TV, but I've never checked one out before!"

It was almost like I was a little celebrity. And now we can have a hot dog & kool-aid fest for Ian's birthday party next month!

Yea for coupons!!

I love Walgreens!!

Here's my total so far for the week (I'm going back for more!)

8 boxes of Special K cereal bars
10 boxes of Nutrigrain bars
6 boxes of Special K cereal
3 boxes of Raisin Bran
1 box of Raisin Bran Crunch
2 boxes of Frosted Flakes
9 boxes of Poptarts
2 boxes of Rice Krispies Treats
4 boxes of Keebler Fudge Cookies

Total paid $82.04
Total register rewards $60 (can be used to buy anything at Walgreens)
Kellogg's rebate $20
Net out of pocket: $2.04!!

Plus I got 2 bottles of Glade Fabric & Air spray, 1 Garnier Nutrisse conditioner, a Pledge Aerosol spray, a pack of Pledge wipes, and a Pledge duster for free!

And that's why we don't leave the house...

We went to Springfield today, 30 minutes away, for Jeremy's birthday. And Rinnah screamed pretty much the entire way there. We actually stopped and I nursed her at one point-just enough to hold her over until we got to the restaurant-and she seemed happy when I put her back into the seat. But as soon as I closed the car door, she started wailing again. I guess it got to Ian, because he started up with this pathetic fake crying.....oh, it was terrible. I think we'll just stay home for the next month or so and then maybe I'll muster up the courage to try again.

New Beginnings

Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday. We would have loved to go to Springfield and eat out kid-free, but that's really not an option with a one-month-old. So we went to church, then had lunch at Mom Fox's house. Next came naptime (yea!) and choir practice, then we had a nice dinner of homemade hamburgers. Today we're going to Springfield with my mom, my brothers, and both kids in tow. Should be fun. Hopefully we make it home before any bedtime meltdowns.

Yesterday was also the first day of our new associate pastor/music minister/Sunday school teacher at church. Honestly, I'm excited. Our former music minister has a great opportunity at a bigger church, and our church has a chance at a fresh start. Jeremy and I have been so disappointed that even after attending faithfully for over two years, we don't feel close to anyone in the church. I think our Sunday school class has had about two activities during that time. It's hard to get to know anyone by just sitting next to them for 20 minutes a week. We were certainly willing to help get things going, and tried several times, but we're still pretty new parents and learning how to juggle all of that. We don't have the time or energy to be in charge of everything. The new teacher is very much a people person though so we're hopeful that with some quasi-regular activities we'll be able to connect with people better and really feel like a part of something at the church.

While I'm sitting here typing this, Ian has been trying to share his pancakes and cereal with Rinnah. Such a sweetie! He looks so disappointed when she doesn't just grab the pancake from his hand and chow down. I have a suspicion she will be trying solids before 6 months old, whether I like it or not, thanks to her partner in crime.

The Zoo!

No, not our house. :)

Today we went to Springfield. I snagged an awesome deal on an extension ladder last week. Unfortunately, we couldn't fit both the ladder and passengers in our car, so we had to wait until we could borrow a van.

So this morning we packed up the kids bright and early, and actually were leaving the house by 8:20am. (The goal was 8am.) I was impressed! We stopped by Lowe's and got the ladder (which took way longer than it should have. Apparently "Rob" is easily distracted.) and then headed to the zoo for a breastfeeding support walk. It was pretty fun-my babywearers group was there, and there were lots of little giveaways like a book for Ian and a nifty bandaid dispenser. Ian's favorite part was feeding the ducks, followed closely by the playground. I did get this pic which I really love-Jeremy's wearing a ring sling with Rinnah in it. I just played with some simple effects with one hand; I'm hoping to tweak it in Photoshop when I have some free time (ha ha).

After the walk we picked up some pictures we had taken a few weeks ago. That was exciting! We have some really cute kids! And they even behaved in the car for the ride home-Rinnah slept and Ian didn't, just what we wanted to not disrupt naptime. It was a good day out. Days like today encourage me that we might not have to stay in the house until all the kids are in gradeschool. :)