So burned out

Somewhere between the weekend and now, all that motivation and energy flew out the window. I still have a long to-do list, but right now I am so exhausted and burned out that even going to bed seems like too much work. I hate feeling like this because inevitably I lose my patience with the kids far too often. This evening I yelled at Shiphrah because she flung her PJ top behind the dresser while I was changing her diaper. Doesn't she know how difficult it is for me and my huge belly to lay on the floor and reach under the dresser to fish things out? Gah, I think I pulled a muscle in my neck doing it too. Speaking of changing diapers, it's looking like more and more of a reality that I will have THREE kids in diapers come July. Every time I talk to Shiphrah about using the big girl potty or going poop in the potty, she looks at me very seriously and says, "no want to poop in potty, Mommy." I suppose it could just click with her one of these days; I guess that's just what I'll have to hope for. I mean, she's not even 2 1/2 yet so it's not like she's delayed or anything, I was just really hoping to have her potty training out of the way by the time #3 came along. Diapers are soooo expensive (my husband refuses to go cloth, so don't bother suggesting that, I've already tried) and I already feel like I'm up to my arms in them all day long with two kids. I can't imagine having three. Do you think God would mind if I prayed that Shiphrah would miraculously show an interest in potty training?

It's Fiesta in San Antonio this week, so my husband is working off-duty gigs at Fiesta on both of his days off this week. They're short gigs (6ish hours) but not having him around in the evenings at all in one week is harder than I thought it would be. I guess I never realized how much I looked forward to those two nights where I'd have his help. Most mornings he gets the kids up and started on their breakfasts while I spend a few extra minutes in bed, but lately that hasn't been relaxing because the kids are loud and whiny in the mornings (we don't have a door on our bedroom so I can't tune them out). So it's like I'm super-tense as soon as I wake up every morning and that's really starting to wear on me. Why can't they wake up happy in the mornings? Anyway, all that to say it feels like forever since I've had a real break. Grocery shopping by myself just isn't cutting it anymore. I think it's been extra-hard lately because I'm adjusting to Shiphrah giving up her nap time, which means no alone time during the day. (I could get her to nap, but when she does she won't go to sleep at night until 10 or 11.) But, only two or three more weeks until our mini-vacation in Austin!!

Anyhoo, I'm going to see if I can't at least put away a little laundry before I crash. This sleepiness is so bizarre though...I guess maybe I didn't sleep as well as I thought I did last night?

Tepid Tuesday

I'm feeling a little down today. Tuesday is normally part of our "weekend," but Avery has decided to take on a few extra off-duty jobs with the city so he's working security at the convention center today from 7-5. Poor guy is bored out of his mind though. He's basically standing in one place for eight hours with nothing to do and no one to talk to. Definitely not his cup of tea. But he's been dying to buy a few extra "toys" (table saw, another knife, a new pair a boots, a lathe, etc.) and he knows we're using all of his extra regular paychecks to pay off the credit cards and save for a minivan, so off-duty was the only way to go. He signed up for five or 6 shifts this month, but after he's discovered how boring it is we'll see how much he wants to do next month. Anyway, I'm missing him dreadfully and can't wait for him to get home.

Kirk broke my heart this morning too. The munchkins have been waking up earlier and earlier every morning now (this morning it was 7:50...they used to sleep until 9), so he's been pretty grumpy in the mornings before his first nap. He basically didn't stop whining except to eat unless I was holding him, so we had lots of cuddle-time this morning. I absolutely love how my little man likes to cuddle so much! Shiphrah never was much of a snuggler and Kirk loves to just sit on my lap and smile at me and lay his head on my chest. Melt. My. Heart! So this morning, since he was already so tired, he was actually starting to doze off in my arms. I was hoping he would actually fall asleep on me (my kids never do that!) but he was too interested in watching Shiphrah and seeing what was going on. So I went to lay him down in his crib. That was twenty minutes ago and he's still whining and fussing. I hate hearing him be so pitiful! *Sigh*

Oh, I think I'm going to have to retire from crock pot cooking until I'm no longer pregnant. The smell is AWFUL. I used to love being able to smell dinner cooking all afternoon, but yesterday was miserable and it made eating dinner nearly impossible. I've been more sensitive to smells this pregnancy than either of my others. Beats the bad nausea, I suppose, but still annoying.

We tried Shiphrah on the potty seat a few days ago with little success. As expected, she's terrified, and can only occasionally be coaxed to sit on it fully-clothed with the promise of two M&Ms. I don't want to go through the trouble of potty-training with a toddler potty only to have her refuse to use any other toilet while we're out (we tried it once and she completely freaked out), so I think we'll just wait a little while until she's more ready. We're going to keep asking her if she wants to sit on the potty at least once a day and after bath time, but that's about it for now. At least when the weather gets warmer, I'll feel better about letting her run around in just a pull-up. I'm horrified at the thought of having THREE kids in diapers, but since she'll only be a little over 2 1/2 when Baby #3 is born, that's looking like a distinct possibility. Oh well, such is the life of a mother of babies.

And I got nothing else.

Weekly Savings #8

Since I've been so good at stocking up the freezer and pantry lately, this week's grocery list was pretty minimal. And since the drugstore deals weren't phenomenal, I opted to just hit HEB. I hadn't bought baking supplies in a while though, so I used the extra money on that, plus a Brita filter (ours was at least 5 months old).

My total savings at HEB is never very high because they don't have coupon match-ups (most of their in-store yellow coupons are just a scam to get you to pay more, except the meal deals and combo locos) and many of the items I purchase there are store-brand goods (bread, paper plates) or non-coupon items (potatoes, fresh produce, meat). However, this week I had my highest savings to date there so that was pretty exciting. :) Here's a breakdown of the deals I got (not including regularly priced, non-coupon items):
- 2.07 lbs. red seedless grapes: $2.01 (on sale for $0.97/lb.)
- 2.91 lbs. Dole bananas: $1.34 (on sale for $0.46/lb.)
- Borden whole milk: $2.68 (after $1/1 mf coupon)
- 5 lbs. russet potatoes: $1.99 (sale)
- two 4.75 oz. Glade soy candles: $0.99 each (after two $2/1 mf coupons)
- 6 Beachnut Homestyle Stage 3 fruit baby food jars: FREE (after 6 Get-1-Free mf coupons)
- 2 French's mustard: $0.77 each (after two $0.50/1 mf coupons)
- beef shoulder roast: $6.53 (on sale for $1.99/lb.)
- Brita replacement filter: $5.98 (after $2/1 HEB mf coupon)
- Best Mail dill relish: $0.44 (after $0.55/1 mf coupon)
- Jif peanut butter & Smuckers jam: $3.35 and $2.09 (after $1/PB&J mf coupon)
- Meow Mix cat food: $2.99 (after $1/1 mf coupon)

Total OOP: $54.75
Total savings: $24.86

Once I found out about the great baby coupons Target has HERE, I also made a special trip there to stock up on some diapers and such. As I checked out, I was excited to notice the sign that said they are now price-matching other stores' ads! That should make for some really good deals after coupons pretty soon (even if it does mean more prep work for me). Anyway, here's the breakdown of what I got:
- Jumbo pack of Target UP diapers: $6.34 (these weren't on sale, but I've never tried them and have heard great things about them...we'll see if they can beat the pee-machine that is Shiphrah at night)
- Jumbo pack of Huggies: $6.74 (after $1.50/1 store coupon & $1.50/1 mf coupon)
- Jumbo pack of Pampers & small pack of Pampers wipes: $6.49 and $0.72 (after $2/1 mf coupon & $2.50/diapers & wipes store coupon)
- Jumbo pack of Luvs: $6.49 (after $1/1 store coupon)
- Purina One cat food: $2.99 (after $2/1 store coupon & $1/1 mf coupon)
- 2 10-packs of BIC pens: FREE (after $1/2 store coupon & $1/2 mf coupon)
- Huggies wipes refill: $3.99 (after $1.50/1 store coupon & $0.50/1 mf coupon)

Total OOP: $36

Total savings: $16.50

Total Weekly Grocery Spending: $54.75
($5.25 under budget)

(Disclaimer: diapers are not included in weekly grocery budget.)

It's the weekend!!

I could just sit and watch Kirk for hours. Right now he's laying on his playmat watching the light-up musical star, babbling at it, and trying his darndest to grab it. (Of course, he doesn't really know exactly what his hands/arms are doing, so he's really just flailing around.) So CUTE! :) Like I mentioned in my post before, Shiphrah was a pretty quiet baby, at least until she was older, so all this cute newborn babbling and giggling is new to me. I LOVE it!!

Shiphrah is napping and Avery is out mowing the lawn, so I should be washing dishes and folding laundry. Kirk is going to be hungry any minute now though so I'm using this time to blog. I hate getting interrupted from a chore, so I'd rather waste this time than be productive. :)

By the way, if any of you need to buy gifts anytime soon, Restaurant.com is running a deal where if you use the code "SPECIAL" you can get $25 gift certificates for only $2! Most of the restaurants have restrictions like "only for use on purchases of $35 or more, alcohol excluded" but it's still a pretty good deal if you want to try out a nice restaurant that you wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. Avery and I are going to try Canyon Cafe here in San Antonio sometime soon with one of the gift certificates.

Speaking of good deals, there are some really good coupons for Kraft shredded cheese ($1/1) and Huggies diapers($2/1) circulating right now. Click HERE to see Money Saving Mom's post with the links to print out the coupons. I think you can print four of of the cheese coupons (two from each site) and six of the diaper coupons (four from the Huggies site and two from the other). These make for some pretty good deals since usually the best coupons on Huggies are for $1.50/1 and the cheese coupons will make the Kraft bagged cheese even cheaper than store brand (I think) especially if you combine them with the $1/2 Target coupons.

I know it's a Friday, but I keep thinking today is Saturday. Our weekend starts today because Avery is off Fridays and Saturdays, so I keep getting so thrown off. We've had a nice relaxing start to the weekend so far. Avery got off early this morning (4ish) so he came home and went straight to bed so he could wake up around 9 with me and the kids. Then I cooked him an omelet and Shiphrah whined for 2 hours before we finally put her to bed for a nap. (I don't know what is up with that girl! She's had some nasty poops the last few days so maybe she's getting some more teeth.)

Anyway, I guess that's about it for today. Tomorrow we're headed up to Dripping Springs for the day to visit my family. I'm not too excited about the drive, but it'll be better than the 7 hours we spent in the car last Saturday going to the beach.

Have a GREAT weekend, all!