If anyone has to buy any upcoming baby gifts...Target is the place to go. They are switching inventory so everything is on clearance. Onesies, pants, blankets, sheets, etc.
I was able to score on some GREAT deals! For $15.71 I got a 5ct onesie set, two 3ct onesie set, and a outfit set (onesie, pants, fleece jacket). All which are ADORABLE!!!!! Savings?! 63%!!!!!! SCORE!
5ct reg $9.99 my price? $3.74
3ct reg $7.99 my price? $2.99
outfit reg $15.99 my price? $5.99
We are using the duck outfits for Brit's shower centerpieces. We figured making a onesie bouquet would be better than wasting the money on flowers that will die. So they will be made of the onesies we've bought and the wash clothes from our other previous savings purchase. Inspiration:
I forgot about this picture. Our city has "Santa" come out to visit all the kids...2 attempts and no good pictures. Oh well. There is next year. I thought it was quite funny though. Aiden was good the whole way through the line and even wanted to go see Santa when Carlos was there. But DEF not when he was alone. haha
Cold season has arrived in our house. The little carrier aka Aiden has passed it to me now. Feel like poo and REALLY look forward to my long weekend so I can recover.
Those two sure do love each other. On another note about Aiden. I swear I can't get that kid to eat ANYTHING!! Constant struggle. All he wants is greek yogurt and applesauce. UUUUGGGGHHH I mean it could be worse but getting that boy to eat meat is impossible. Take for example I fix him a turkey sandwich. It pulls apart the whole thing, stacks each item in a separate pile. Maybe takes 2 bites then gives it to Murph as whining for "Aaappl auce" UGH kid you're killing me! Sometimes I get angry with him and say "Well if you don't eat this then you're not getting anything else." Teach him to eat what's in front of him...so there are those nights where he doesn't get a proper meal, but Mommy isn't cooking 5 different meals just to please him. I just keep reminding myself "Eventually Allison. He will get it."
He used to be the kid that would eat anything in front of him. Now he barely eats. :-(
As we approach 2 we are starting to see more fits. With me he doesn't do the fake crying as much as he does with daddy. With me he sprawls out on the floor head down wanting me to notice him, which I don't. haha They aren't long fits thank goodness. Hopefully we don't have the "terrible 2s" though. Since I am the one that gets him ready every morning, which can be a challenge because he just wants to play and run from me, I have learned that the tone of my voice can work like magic. (Wes says I'm mean. but I say "listen if I have a friendly tone he thinks I'm playing so it encourages his bad behavior and in the morning I just don't have time for that. We have to get up and out the door.") After trying different approaches its the only one that works and he knows if I say his full name I mean business and he better get his butt over by me. This kid HATES diaper changes (why he runs)! I have no earthly idea why I mean we've only been doing it for 2 years, so it's nothing new. Getting him dressed is easy because I do everything in a particular order so he "helps" me.
I probably am complaining/venting about my frustrations right now because I'm sick and exhausted.
And on top of ALL that my SIL causes drama. Always stirring up the pot. Feel sorry for my nieces.
So with that being said Mommy def needs some Me-Time soon and I REALLY look forward to my long weekend.
As everyone knows my projects mainly come from Pinterest, so here are a few I've finished.
1. Aiden's guest birthday cake stand. I finished my cake pop stand. Inspiration from Pottery Barn kids. I'm going to make the cake pops look like the very hungry caterpillar.
2. Birthday balloon wreath. I'm going to hang this on our door for each of our birthday months. Let me just say my wreath is 16 inches and took 200 balloons and I lost a fingerprint gluing the banner on the back. Hurt sooo bad! But soo worth it!
3. Snowman kits. Today me and Erica had our monthly crafting day and completed 6 of these. I'm going to give 1 to my in-laws and to Wes' bro family. All the Lambert kids deserve to have fun when it starts snowing here, but I only spent $5 per kit. (We are keeping the one on the far right)
On a different subject. I finally got my 2nd bookcase. Our living room is finally complete and put together! 2 years later ;-) Only because it took me FOREVER to find the bookcases (after I had to return 1 and let down by the heights of so many.) The top 2 shelves are what I call the "adult" shelves I still have to organize them the way I want. I did score on some moss covered containers the other day that I'm going to put pretty white/cream fake hydrangeas in. The bottom 3 shelves are for Aiden (he totally won out of that deal). I recycled the bins that were in his room only because they are soft resin so if they are dragged across the wood it won't hurt it. I got 4 identical ones for the new shelf and threw in the color purple. We wanted to add another color since everything in our house was tan, blue, and green (Nature color freaks here). I made the labels myself and covered them with shipping tape so they won't tear. Now Aiden associates a word to a toy (Working on that organization skill).
Other news we had a little breakdown here Friday. Little man's breathing machine broke. AHHH! The worst time. I don't know what was up with me on Saturday but I COMPLETELY forgot. Mainly because he was doing good all day until about 4pm. Cough Cough Drainage Drainage. NOOOOOO! It was way past the doctors office hours. NOOOOO! So needless to say little man was up ALL night coughing and snotting and even threw up. NOOOOO! Thankfully my doctor is open on Sunday so we skipped church and headed over there at 10. Thankfully again we got his machine working. So Aiden hasn't been taking his treatments for 2 days and you can DEFINITELY tell. Poor little guy was draining sooo bad that my trash can is full of tissue.
I have him on a little cocktail of Tylenol, cold and cough, and honey syrup but didn't see much improvement. So at about 3pm I felt so bad for him that I gave him some of our local honey (Local honey helps your allergies. Very important if you live in Memphis because this is the WORST place to live if you have allergy issues.) He loved it and I could immediately see a difference. So I will keep that one in the book.
Our next nightly routine is baby Vicks rub on his chest and back along with the Vicks scent pad and our handy dandy frog humidifier. The newest trick I read about was putting Vicks on your feet topped with socks to help ease your coughing spells during the night. Trust me I had my doubts, but I've literally only heard Aiden cough 3 times tonight for a minute. MAYBE IT DOES WORK!
So lets hope Aiden doesn't wake up with a fever tomorrow morning.
Next month I'm going to start the dreaded potty training.......so I've been reading alot of tips, methods, etc. There are like 5 million different types of pottys. LORDY, do they have to make it that difficult?!?!
Aiden has started to mimic Mommy A LOT, so I thought maybe that would be a starting point. For example, if Mommy washes her hands he runs to the bathroom places his step in front of the sink to wash his hands too. Even if they aren't dirty. When I call Murph I say "Murph" and make a kissy noise and either slap the side of my leg or chair if I'm sitting down. And do you know that kid does the VERY exact thing. And heaven forbid if Murph doesn't come the "MURPH!!!" gets louder. In other words I really have to watch myself what I say and do. Oh he's growing up so fast in like a month he will be 2!!!! My baby will be 2! OMG.
So for potty's after hearing horror stories about how when Wes was little he REFUSED to use a big potty when they were on a road trip made me determine right there I didn't want to get one of those little pottys. Did you know they make mini urinals?! haha They do. But I decided we will get one of those seats that pops onto a normal toliet to get him in the habit....even though he's been working with a little potty at school.
I decided since he is very adamant on doing the same things Mommy does I think he might be more accepting of it. We've been reading potty books and everytime I go he stands there waiting and watching haha (never get a moment alone) I say to over and over "Mommy is going potty. Do you have to potty?" Which is always "No" lol
So I look forward to this journey and see much more laundry in my future...
I know I have lived in Memphis for awhile now, but each time it snows and STAYS it still amazes this Bama girl. Last year I knew we wouldn't be out in it much because Aiden was so little. However, this year he is ALL about it! The cold weather is approaching so I must start preparing myself and the little man.
I have purchased myself some weather boots. No wet feet for this girl. Just need to get myself some liners.
Now the little man. My local consignment store never let me down. I was able to score on a Children's Place snow overalls for only $10 originally $30. Yes! Now a good thick jacket...where do I go Target of course! Scored on this jewel which matches the pants for $12 originally $33. Go momma! I got him a 3T one size to big hoping they might last to next year too.
Now came the hard part. Shoes! UGH....I DREAD shoe shopping with this kid, so I tend to buy like 10 pairs to try on in waves at home. He makes such a scene at stores, because 90% of the time they don't fit and it's torture. So I stocked up on snow shoes from everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE and NONE worked. UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH! Once I got them to strap his legs without being too tight the foot part was HUGE on him or vice versa. The pain of having a boy with a wide foot. Sorry mommy and daddy cursed you.
After researching the web for solutions and asking people for advice some suggested rain boots with thick liners. I had my doubts worried I'd have the same outcome as the snow boots. So the other day when I was doing my last bonus discount at Target I saw some ADORABLE rain boots. Granted they were of course full price, but with my special 25% off I said heck with it. But trust me...it was REALLY hard thinking I was having to pay almost full price. (Total bargin shopper) And what do you know?!?! THEY FIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I about died. Granted we have to wear thick socks with them or he walks sooooo funny but they are perfect (We had to go up a size).
So we are ready! Here are a few pictures I snapped of the little man on my phone over the past few days. Sorry some are blurry he just moves so much.
As I mentioned before I am a bargin shopper. I have used coupons before, but last Thursday me and my friend Erica had our first EXTREME couponing trip. 2 transactions and 2 FULL carts. We headed up to Target with 2 full stacks of coupons and lists prepared.
Damage? I spent $110 saved over $100. That's like a 50% saving Whahoo! Don't worry I didn't end up with 75 razors or 40 bars of soap. haha I think Wes would have killed me if I did that. I actually purchased practical things that won't be hoarded. So view the finds:
I bought 2 of the biggest box of size 5 diapers (Not pictured in Aiden's closet), gargage bags, biggest box of wipes (Not pictured in Aiden's closet), cleaning wipes, paper plates, box of multigrain crackers, 8 soup cans (cream of chicken/mushroom/tomato), 10 cokes (using half for Aiden's party), Aiden- 2 shirts (My fav is the elephant RTR!!) and pair of pants, Wes- a flannel shirt, a tshirt, and cord pants, Myself- a sweater, a shirt, and work black pants (pants that are NEVER on sale always $28 and I got them for $19 SCORE Thanks Wes!), 2 packs of stickers/markers for a birthday gift, Supplies for Brits shower- size 1 diapers jumbo pack, 12 washcloths, 4 burp cloths, ADORABLE 3 pack of onesies (Monster INC), 2 pack of sippy cups, 2 rolls of wrapping paper (Houndstooth of course and Toy Story), 2 boxes of cereal, medium box of spaghetti noodles, spaghetti sauce, dryer sheets, multivitamins, set of 2 stocking holders (replacing some since Aiden ripped one down this year and broke it), 1 christmas shaker glass (For the Elf's arrival breakfast).....and that's it. haha see LOTS! I was shocked and amazed we saved that much since we included clothes for everyone. Some things I got for free and went under so that money went towards clothes. Guess it's proof my math doesn't suck. hahahaha
Speaking of Brits shower. We stuck with neutral wash/burp cloths. For cups and the bodysuits we bought a boy and girl sets (I have the boy stuff because I think they are having a boy!) Erica has a friend that just found out she is preggo so hopefully one will have a boy and the other a girl. If not...it's not like it will go to waste because people all around us keep popping up pregnant.
Mommy gets a day off tommorrow. Aiden is at school. Daddy work. Pure relaxation with cleaning mixed in there somewhere...
